Shades of Gray
by RunsWithScizors
Summary: Rosa's always been a bit of a coward, to the annoyance of her friend Hugh. But when she gets a Pokedex and meets Nate for the first time, she finds herself caught in the wicked plans of Team Plasma. Now our donut-headed heroine must learn courage to survive, or at least hide behind a scientist with hair even more ridiculous than her own. Sequel to Not Always Black and White.
1. Our New Protagonists

**Once upon a time, a brothe****r and sister decided to team up and re-tell the story of Pokémon Black, with all the unneeded sanity thrown out the window. They enjoyed that so much, they decided to do it again with the sequel. Whether or not that was a good idea has yet to be determined.**

**WARNING: In addition to the Ferriswheel and Dualrival from the first story, this will contain traces of other pairings we may or may not actually ship. On a non-shipping note, there will also be references to Doctor Who and Disney(if you've read our previous work, you had to have seen both of those coming) with a new, important feature: hair mockery.**

**Like the previous one, it is not meant to be serious for at least ten chapters. Let's see how it goes from there.**

The sun rose on Aspertia City with all the loving kindness of a demon, but Rosa was ready for it. She'd piled her pillows onto the window sill, blocking out any kind of light, and the girl inside the room slept on, her head resting on a folded-up blanket she'd had since she was a baby. She had been proud of her ability to block out the sun, but she couldn't block her mother's voice.

"Rosa? Rosa, wake up. I have something to ask you."

The girl attempted to hide her head under her pillow, forgetting that her pillow was up in the window. "Five more minutes."

"That's what you said an hour ago," her mother scolded. "And this time, it's important."

Ten minutes later, Rosa shuffled out of her room, closing the door behind her, and wandered into the kitchen. Her ridiculously long hair wasn't up in its usual style just yet, and she had to pull it out of the bowl before she could eat her breakfast cereal.

"Rosa, something happened today that concerns you."

"Dad's getting remarried and wants me to meet my future stepmother?"

"Well, no. It doesn't have anything to do with your father, or romance at all. You see, I have a friend over in Nuvema Town who wants to ask you to do something."

Rosa stared at her mother, unable to comprehend anything in her half-dead state. "Are you ok, Mom?"

"It doesn't involve me, either. My friend just wants to know a few things. Do you know what a Pokedex is?"

"Vaguely." Rosa lifted her cereal spoon to her mouth again, and tried to focus on her mother when she would rather get lost in the fuzz clouding her brain. "Why?" she continued once she'd swallowed.

"Do you want a Pokedex?" Shrug. "What about your very own Pokémon?"

Rosa's eyes widened as she finally made the connection. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that my friend is Professor Aurea Juniper, and she's sent her assistant over here to give you a Pokémon of your choice."

"I get an Absol?" Rosa asked stupidly, naming the first Pokémon that came to her head.

Her mom shook her head sadly. "It _is _too early for you to function, isn't it? No, the only options are the famous choices from Professor Juniper's lab."

Rosa looked down into her cereal bowl, staring at the icy milk and slowly-getting-soggier peanut butter puffs. A Pokedex meant a journey, and a journey meant danger. But it also meant making new friends and having an army of powerful, adorable creatures do her bidding. It was a lot to consider. Finally, she lifted her head to meet her mother's eyes, and spoke slowly. "I'm going to need a shower, first. I have no idea when I'll get the chance again."

Her mother smiled. "I was hoping you'd accept. Her assistant is already here."

* * *

"Hey, Rosa!"

The voice was familiar to the girl, as she'd been hearing it every day for years. She smiled at the new arrivals, already much more awake than she'd been earlier that day, and ready to announce her good news to her friend. "Yes, Hugh?"

"My mom said that your mom called her and said you have a secret. Told me to go ask you about it."

Rosa's smile grew wider as she decided to play a little game with Hugh. There was no need to tell him right away. "Well, maybe our moms should stop trying to set up their children, don't you agree?"

"What's wrong with playing matchmaker?" The smaller voice came from Hugh's eight-year-old sister, and it commanded Rosa's attention. "It's fun! Even if it's not romantic at all, the victims can still become friends."

"Hugh and I already are friends," Rosa pointed out. "We don't need to fall in love to be happy together. But I'm on a top-secret mission right now. Have you seen a girl in a green hat anywhere?"

That caught Hugh's interest, much more than anything his mother had told him, and his dark red eyes locked onto his friend. "What aren't you telling us?"

She'd never heard him sound so interested before. Rosa grinned maniacally. "I'm getting a Pokémon!"

The siblings' taunting smiles faded in unison, leaving Rosa confused, before Hugh returned to his excitement and grabbed her by the wrist to keep her from changing her mind.

"Well, what are we waiting for? I know you'll look after whatever Pokémon you get. Come on, I want to see your choice!"

But Rosa noticed that the little girl wasn't quite so happy. She turned to ask what was wrong, but the child had already started heading home.

"Have fun, guys," she called, shuffling away with her back to them. "Take care of your Pokémon."

* * *

They found Professor Juniper's assistant very easily, as she was the only person with a green hat in the whole town. She was standing at the famous lookout point, staring out at the view that never failed to take Rosa's breath away. Hearing the footsteps of the new arrivals, the girl turned, greeting them both with a smile.

"Hello!" she cheered. "I'm looking for a girl named Rosa. Do you know where I could find her?"

The brunette raised her hand nervously, feeling like she was back in school taking roll call. "I'm Rosa."

"You're just how I imagined!" the blonde giggled. "Except...sorry for being rude, but what's up with your hair?"

"My hair?" Rosa reached up and touched her familiar hair donuts. Neither of them had come undone... "I style it like this every day."

"Really?" The new girl shook her head and pulled a container from her bag, where three tiny Pokeballs were resting. "The Pokémon that will be your partner is right in here!" she declared, changing the subject a bit too quickly. "I'm sure they're all dying to meet you."

Rosa stared at the three red and white balls, begging for one of them to speak to her. Peeking through the semi-transparent red cap, she could barely make out the faces of the Tepig, Oshawott and Snivy inside.

"Um...let's see..." Ugh, this choice was so much easier when she had very little idea of what her choices were. "Give me a while. I need to think."

A quiet growl came from somewhere in Hugh's throat, but his friend paid no attention. It was just like Rosa to contemplate the potential backfiring of every available option. She was going to be a terrible battler.

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, a boy and his Tepig had just finished packing for a journey of their own. The boy couldn't wait to get to Virbank City. More specifically, Pokestar Studios. It was his lifelong dream to be a director, and the call of the movie studio was his first step. And with the pig as a trusty sidekick, today was the perfect day to start the journey.

"Do you want to wear the bow tie?" he asked the little orange creature, much to the Tepig's excitement. The boy laughed. "Yeah, I thought you would. Bow ties are cool."

The Tepig tried his hardest to stay still as his trainer placed the home-made bow tie collar around his neck. The boy wasn't really an expert tailor, but a few tries had given decent results, and the red bow had been stitched to the black collar well enough that it wouldn't fall off. The pig was still bouncing around the room when the door opened, revealing the trainer's mother.

"You're still packing?" she asked, and the boy threw the bag over his shoulder.

"Just finished," he said, running a hand through his ridiculous hair. "My camera, some spare batteries, a charger, some Potions, some Pokeballs..."

"What about food?"

The boy shrugged and put on his visor. "I'll raid the fridge on my way out."

"Nate..."

"Mom, I'm almost sixteen. Trust me, I know how to cook." Well, he knew how to make sandwiches, anyway, which was enough to keep himself and his Tepig alive between towns. "And I've got Toby here to start the fires for me."

The Tepig named Toby blew harmless embers from his nostrils in response.

His mother didn't argue. "Just be careful, all right?"

Nate laughed. "Don't worry, I'll call, and I'll let you guys know if I have plans to go past Virbank. Promise."

His mother started to protest again, only to notice as her husband arrived. The man glanced at Nate and Toby, obviously in shock.

"You two are still here? What's keeping you?"

"Just saying goodbye to Mom," Nate explained. "She didn't want us to go."

His father laughed and turned to his wife. "We gotta let the kid go sometime, you know. We don't want him eating all our food forever."

The woman looked from her husband to her son, before she smiled a little. "All right. Just don't go running off with some girl without telling us."

"I won't. Promise." Nate clapped his hands, summoning Toby, and the two were out the door with little more than a goodbye to his parents.

* * *

Rosa cuddled her new Pokémon happily as Hugh's was recalled to its ball. So what if hers had the disadvantage? They'd won! Their very first Pokémon battle and they'd won it!

Bianca, the blonde, smiled happily and adjusted her glasses. "What an awesome team!" she said happily, watching Rosa and the Tepig in her arms. "So, are you ready for an adventure, Rosa?"

"Adventure?" Rosa let the Pokémon go, where it rushed up to look at the view for itself. "Like, how big of an adventure are we talking? To Virbank and back?"

"To complete the Pokedex, of course," Bianca said happily, indicating the device in Rosa's hands. "Pokémon exist everywhere, you know. Multiple species and types, each with their own unique abilities..."

Hugh snapped to attention, staring hard at Bianca. It was kind of scary, to be honest. "Can I have a Pokedex, too?" he asked. "I want to go on a mission of my own, and if Rosa gives up and goes home, I can still help you."

"She'll give up and go home?" Bianca seemed surprised to hear it. "Why?"

Rosa hung her head in shame. "I'm not the bravest person in the world," she admitted. "I'll probably hop the nearest flight home the second I meet a Ghost-type. Or a Druddigon. Or Zoroark. Or anything in the Deino line. Or Kingler. Or Sewaddle."

A look of utter disbelief flashed across Bianca's face, and she turned on Hugh for answers. "She's afraid of _Sewaddles_?"

"Don't ask," Hugh warned, taking the second Pokedex without question. "Anyway, Bianca. Thank you for the Pokedex."

Rosa smiled nervously, too. "Yeah. Thanks. I guess."

Of course, that was when the three were ambushed by a runaway Tepig. It looked around at its surroundings, startled when it didn't recognize any of the humans there. It must be separated from its trainer, Rosa realized. It looked just as confused and scared as she felt, and the red bow tie around its neck meant it had to belong to somebody.

The strange Tepig blew embers from its nose as he stared down Rosa's Pokémon, intimidated by a strange member of its species. Rosa's Tepig did the same...and then the two fire pigs jumped at each other like long-lost brothers.

"Toby!" a boy's voice called, getting the strange Tepig's attention. "Where'd you run off to this time?"

The Tepig named Toby called back, and soon enough the boy appeared on the stairs. He caught sight of Rosa and her Tepig first, and Toby quickly took his place at the boy's feet. The boy paid no attention, and instead he spoke - at the same moment that Rosa and Hugh did.

"What's wrong with your hair?" they all asked each other, in the kind of perfect synchronization that would never happen again. Bianca giggled like a small child at the awkward silence that followed.

"Well, I'll just leave you guys alone to talk," she said, slipping past the boys to get down the steps. "Take care of yourselves, all right?"

The new boy explained things immediately - his name was Nate, and Toby was known for getting excited about things and running ahead. Rosa quickly introduced herself and Hugh, and Nate seemed to become even more interested upon hearing that they each had a Pokedex.

"Does that mean you'll go challenging the Gyms and try to become Champion?" he asked, his eyes lighting up with the potential of powerful new friends.

Rosa looked up at Hugh for an answer, and he just leaned against the rail. "It's not like we'll be able to get very far without badges," he explained, much to his old friend's horror. "Don't worry, your Tepig can keep the big, mean Sewaddles away."

Nate gave Rosa the same confused look Bianca had. "You're afraid of _Sewaddles_?"

"I'm afraid of a lot of things," Rosa snapped, standing up and calling her own Tepig. "Come on, little guy. We don't need Pineapple-Head over here mocking us."

"Tepig," the pig agreed, and trotted off behind his new trainer.

Nate and Toby didn't seem to like that much, and took off after the girl. "Wait - Rosa!"

She glanced over her shoulder, debated running home, and decided it was probably best if she let him speak. "Yes, Nate?"

"I'm trying to make a movie based on the adventure to become a Champion. I was going to just head over to Virbank City and check out Pokestar Studios to start writing a script, but why do that when I could join you on your adventure?" He turned his best puppy-dog eyes on her. "What do you say? Can I make a movie based on your story?"

Rosa looked him over carefully, as Toby assumed his own best cute pose. It was a difficult decision. After all, the potential of having a bodyguard was nearly outweighed by the fact that Nate might actually expect her to do things. But, in the end, she conceded defeat. "Well...ok. If you promise to go into any questionable-looking places first. And if you don't mock my issues. And above all else, _don't catch a Sewaddle_!"


	2. Adventures in Flocessy Ranch

**The first encounter with Team Plasma.**

Nate met Rosa's mother and Hugh's sister as his new, donut-haired friend started home. The older woman fawned over the Pokémon, while the little girl paid more attention to the boy.

"Who's your friend, Rosa?" she asked, unable to stop the wicked smile that spread across her face. Rosa flinched. She was being _shipped._

"He's my stalker, actually. His name's Nate, and he wants to document my becoming a Champion."

That stopped the shipping plans in the girl's mind, and she stared at Rosa in disbelief. "_You _want to be the _Champion?_" she asked, and Rosa would have been insulted if it hadn't been a logical response.

"Apparently. That's what Nate started stalking me for." Rosa shrugged, then looked down at her new Tepig. "So. You need a name, too, little guy. I think...maybe Eric?" The Tepig shook his head, and Rosa laughed. "You're right. It sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it? How does Greg sound, instead?"

That one he seemed to agree with, if bouncing around like a cartoon character on caffeine was any indication. Rosa's mom smiled, but then thought of an important question.

"How do you plan on telling them apart, anyway?" she asked, looking down at the two fire pigs in front of her.

Nate picked up Toby, holding him up so the woman could see. "I made a bow tie for Toby," he explained, as Toby cheered and poked the item in question. "And if he evolves, we can just loosen up the collar so it doesn't strangle him anymore."

"And he thinks ahead, too," the girl laughed, reaching into her backpack for two Town Maps, which she immediately gave to Rosa. "One for you guys, and one for Hugh," she explained. "Could you go and take it to him for me?"

"Um...ok." Rosa had no idea how to read a map, since she'd never found it necessary before - her mother knew the way to Virbank City, and her father never let her out of his sight when she went to visit him in Castelia. But she was on her own now...she tried not to think about that too hard. She didn't want to have a panic attack before they'd even left. And besides, she had Greg and Nate and Toby.

Nate asked the question that Rosa was still trying to form in her head. "Where did Hugh say he was going?"

"Something about a ranch." The little girl shrugged. "I'd go myself, but you guys have Pokémon."

Rosa smiled. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be a great trainer one day."

"If you say so."

"Take care," Rosa's mother called, waving goodbye. "If you need to heal your Pokemon, I'm right here!"

"All right! Bye, Mom!"

And they turned and left, ready to head over to Flocessy Town, at least.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to catch any Pokémon here?"

Rosa shook her head. "I know Flocessy Ranch has Pokémon available for capture," she stated, tossing one of her pigtails over her shoulder. "We can find some more assistants there."

As they stepped out of the tall grass, Toby and Greg having had practice battles against the Purrloin, Patrat and Lillipup that popped out at the humans, they were distracted by a loud shout.

"Hey, kids!"

The pair looked up, noticing that the call came from a man. A man with long, spiky, flame-like hair he kept tied back. Nate immediately recognized him, though the name escaped Rosa's mind.

"You're Alder, aren't you?" he asked, as the man slid down the cliff. "The Champion of the Unova region?"

"The very same," Alder laughed. "I've been trying to enjoy retirement."

"So you're jumping down cliffs?" Rosa challenged, a bit intimidated by having such a powerful Trainer so close, so early on in her journey.

"That? That's just a sport." Alder grinned. "So. You kids seem like capable trainers. I've been looking for people like you to help out some young ones that want to learn the basics."

"But there's a Trainer's School opening up in Aspertia City soon," Rosa pointed out. "Why can't they just wait a while and go there?"

"You're questioning the plot?" Alder asked, and she fell silent. "Tell you what. Why don't you two just head on out, warm up for the Gym Leaders? Then you can come back and teach the kids some battle skills."

"Sorry, Alder, but we can't do that," Nate explained. "We're on a different mission at the moment. We're looking for a boy about our age, maybe a little older, with Qwilfish hair and an Oshawott. Have you seen him?"

"Qwilfish hair, huh?" Alder thought back, and then seemed to remember. "Oh, yeah. He passed me before I could ask him to train the kids a little, and headed up to Flocessy Ranch. Something about getting stronger..." The former Champion laughed. "Reminded me of a kid I knew two years ago."

"And where is Flocessy Ranch?" Rosa asked, forgetting for the moment that she had a map.

"Right outside of town. Come on, I'll show you the way."

Rosa smiled happily, and spoke up shortly before Alder stopped walking. "Will you come and protect us from any stronger Pokémon that might want to hurt us?"

"What would stronger Pokémon want with you two? They only come out if they think you're worth their time, whether to practice with or join your team." He pointed down the route, where Rosa assumed Hugh disappeared. "The human Qwilfish headed that way. I'll be waiting for you down at my house - then you could help with the kids."

"I never agreed to anything!" Rosa wailed, but she could have been talking to a brick wall for all the attention Alder was paying. That's just what she needed - _another _thing to do against her will.

* * *

Five minutes later, the pair had finally stopped to check the map. Rosa handed it over, grumbling about how she never really learned to read a map, before she sulked off.

Nate, on the other hand, was perfectly capable of map-reading, and found their location fairly easily. Following the path with his finger, he nodded once and closed the map once again. "Come on, Rosa! Flocessy Ranch is right up here!"

It was quiet. Too quiet. Nate turned to see what was going on, and immediately noticed that his new friend had gone pale. She was staring at a creature nuzzling her shoe, a small green creature that was cheerfully saying its name. Then, without warning, Rosa let out a scream that could shatter glass and jumped behind Nate, the Sewaddle falling off of her shoe as she did so.

"It wants to eat me!" she whimpered, nearly strangling the boy with her choke hold.

"It's just a Sewaddle! They eat leaves!"

"That's just what they want you to think!"

Nate rolled his eyes. Some future Champion she was. "Toby?"

"Tepig," Toby agreed, and blew more harmless embers from his nose. The Sewaddle scurried away, leaving no trace of its presence behind.

Rosa sighed in relief when she saw the Sewaddle was gone. "Thank you, Nate!" she said around a slight giggle, but he could feel she was still shaky as she loosened her grip on him. "That was a close one."

"You have your own Tepig, you know," Nate pointed out, pulling her arms from his throat. "Why don't you make Greg save you next time?"

"I didn't think." Rosa followed closely behind him, keeping an eye out for any more unwelcome visitors of the creepy crawly kind. Fortunately, the two reached Flocessy Ranch with no problem, and found that Hugh was there after all. Unfortunately, the thing the boy wanted most out of his friend was a battle.

"Come on, Rosa! Oshawott and I want revenge for the last time!"

"Hugh, we just came to -"

"But we have to get stronger if we're going to meet more Pokémon for our quest, remember?"

"Your quest, not mine."

"I need you to help me! Just battle me, Rosa."

Rosa sighed. "Fine. Let's just hurry up and get this battle over with already."

* * *

"Oshawott lost to a Tepig...twice?" Hugh was concerned. He'd had Oshawott since it was an egg, and though he loved it, he was starting to understand that trainer battles were a lot different than battles against wild Pokémon. Rosa was a natural out on the battlefield. "How did you do it, Rosa?"

Rosa shrugged, digging the toe of her shoe into the ground. "I'm a good battler, I guess."

"A great rivalry," Nate stated, wishing he'd thought to actually film the battle. "It makes a plot a bit more interesting."

Hugh picked his Oshawott off the ground, where it fell asleep in his arms. "What brought you guys out here, anyway?"

Rosa pulled a Town Map from her bag, handing it over to Hugh. "That's what brought us here. A present from your sister."

"She didn't have to bother. I could find my own way, you know." He paused, then shrugged and put the map in his bag. "Oh, well. I guess I should go back and tell her thanks."

"What are you kids doing here?"

The trio turned to see two people and a Herdier, apparently worried. The woman, however, let the worry melt away as she healed both Greg and Oshawott, and she even gave the same treatment to Toby, though Toby hadn't participated in the battle. As she did, the man explained their presence to the kids.

"I'm the owner of this ranch," he explained, "and my wife and I thought you might be Pokémon thieves."

"Why would we be thieves?" Nate asked. "I thought Flocessy Ranch had wild Pokémon that you guys let visiting trainers capture."

"That's true," the wife stated. "But, you see, we used to have two Herdier, and we can't seem to find the other one."

"Then why are we standing around and talking?" Hugh demanded, whirling around with a sudden determination. "Camera kid, you go over there. I'll take this patch of grass, and Rosa...you go up there and search in the trees."

She didn't like that idea much, either. "But what about the -"

"Trust me, Rosa, there is nothing too scary for you in Flocessy Ranch. Just go, before these people lose their Herdier forever!'

And he was gone. Nate released Toby into the grass, where the fire pig led him out of Rosa's sight. Rosa turned to the ranch owner's wife, hoping to get out of it, but the woman just smiled.

"I'll heal your Pokémon if it gets too weak," she promised, and then her husband shooed Rosa away as he went to check out the barn.

Rosa sighed and let Greg lead her away, clutching her bag for dear life. Maybe an adventure wasn't such a great idea, after all.

* * *

As reluctant as she was, however, Rosa found that it wasn't entirely bad. She'd captured a Mareep, and trained both of her Pokémon to help her beat the upcoming Gym Leaders. But, battles aside, she was actually starting to get concerned.

"What if Nate and Hugh already found the missing Herdier?" Rosa asked her Pokémon, both out of their balls to act as her protectors from any stray Sewaddles. "I mean, they could have found it already, and this whole thing is stupid."

Mareep shook her head at her new trainer. Sure, the girl seemed nice, and wasn't a total moron, but there was definitely something off about her.

A loud bark cut through the air, and Rosa jumped about a foot at the sound. Hugh rushed up a few seconds later, and was neither pleased nor surprised when his old friend clung to him like a leech. He glared at her, and she loosened her grip but didn't let go. "Going on an adventure wasn't your idea at all, was it?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

Rosa shook her head. "No," she mumbled. "Professor Juniper just sent Bianca without warning."

"Well, that bark sounded like a Herdier to me. So, I'm forcing you out of your comfort zone to go after it, while I get the ranch couple."

Rosa gave him her best puppy eyes. "Carry me?"

Hugh pried her arms off of him and started away. "Your Pokemon can protect you from the monsters."

Rosa gulped and faced down the trees, listening to her friend's footsteps until they were gone. _Come on, Rosa,_ she told herself, _it's not a forest, there aren't any forest gods out to eat your spleen. And if there were, maybe I can offer this Professor Juniper as a human sacrifice, for making me go on this adventure in the first place._

The Herdier barked again, and Rosa moved closer, following the sound. She hoped it wasn't one of those over-friendly ones that tackled people out of affection. She'd been terrified of canine Pokémon as a little girl, just because a Stoutland had jumped on her and knocked her over as its way of greeting. She really didn't want to have that kind of fear again.

Turning the corner, the girl and her four-legged friends found the Herdier, all right - and a person dressed entirely in black, a ninja mask covering the lower half of his face.

The man saw her, too. "Who are you?" he demanded, and Rosa summoned every drop of courage in her body to speak up.

"I should be asking you the same question." She took a deep breath and focused on the Pokémon instead. "Is that Herdier yours, by any chance?"

"What's it to you?" The ninja demanded her attention, and she tried to put on a show of bravery. "Don't you know to stay out of Team Plasma's way, little girl?"

That she did. She'd heard all kinds of stories about Team Plasma, it was all over the news two years ago. She'd heard of their plan to free Pokémon from humans, and about how a pair of teenagers took down the organization when they were only a little older than she was now. Of course, Aspertia City hadn't been affected back then, so she'd never thought that she'd have to worry about actually meeting a member in person.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of us," the man was saying, convinced that her silence was of confusion instead of fear. "But the boss says I'm not supposed to start fights. So consider yourself lucky."

And he was gone, leaving behind three Pokemon and a very confused young lady.

"I've got them!" Hugh's voice called a second later, foretelling his arrival on the scene. "You doing ok, Rosa?"

"Um...I think so. Maybe." She could feel tears of relief welling up in her eyes, but she focused on Greg and Mareep to calm herself down. This journey was far from over, and she was beginning to feel exhausted already.


	3. The First Gym Leader

**The return of Cheren! Wheee!**

**WARNING: DualRivalshipping. _Awkward_ DualRivalshipping.**

Leaving the whole Flocessy Ranch incident behind them, Nate and Rosa started heading back to Aspertia City with their new Pokémon. Greg and Mareep already seemed to be on the fast track to friendship with Toby and Nate's new Riolu. If only Rosa could get along that easily with their trainer.

Not that traveling with this kid was a bad thing, exactly. Once or twice she even found herself enjoying it. But she had trust issues, probably stemming from the incident that started her friendship with Hugh, and she wasn't completely ready to call him a friend yet.

Just like she wasn't ready to go back to the ex-Champion just yet, but it had to be done. Alder was waiting for them, eager to show the visiting kids that just because his Pokémon would annihilate theirs didn't mean that they couldn't battle at all. "Did you find your friend?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now you can hurry up and teach these kids the basics of a battle." The former Champion didn't give them a choice, and led them into his house. There stood two children, a boy and a girl.

The boy frowned. "Are these the ones you said would teach us?"

"You promised them a battle without our permission?" Rosa demanded, turning on Alder with fury in her eyes.

"Well, you wouldn't agree to it otherwise." And it seemed Alder knew her already, and she only glared at him as he took a spot as referee. "All right, kids. You've learned the basic type matchups against each other - now you're going to learn double battles! Ready, everybody?"

The young kids sent out a Pansage and Panpour, while the older ones used Toby and Mareep. The battle was on!

* * *

Well, Nate and Rosa won. It hadn't surprised Alder at all, but the kids were very, very impressed.

"I didn't think they could do it," the boy was saying, much to Alder's amusement.

"Sometimes, people manage to do things you'd never expect from them," he said, "and that's why type matchups are so important."

"I see."

Rosa, unlike the little kids, wasn't ready to learn a lesson just yet. "Can we go home now?" she whined, as Nate recalled Toby and congratulated him on a job well done. "Not that I don't appreciate this, but I forgot to buy food before I left and I'm starting to get hungry."

Alder sighed. "All right. There's a new Pokémon Gym that just opened up in Aspertia City. In the trainer's school you mentioned earlier, as a matter of fact. Why don't you test your strength against the Gym Leader there?"

Rosa thought it over, then shrugged. "All right. How hard can a Gym Leader be?"

Alder chuckled. "Trust me, I know this kid. You might want to spend another hour or two training."

Well, that didn't sound promising.

* * *

Rosa had decided to battle every Pokémon she met on her way back to Aspertia City, in order to toughen them up for the upcoming battle. Alder had given her some Oran Berries to help out, but she knew she would just lose them immediately. Still, the warmth of their hometown washed over both of them, and after healing at the Pokémon Center and heading home for lunch, they met up again in the Trainer's School...which, it turned out, doubled as the Gym.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rosa asked, staring at the doors to the stadium. Her heart was racing, and any second now she'd lose her voice and start shaking uncontrollably.

Nate paid no attention to her, instead staring at the statue in front of the doors. "How do you pronounce the Gym Leader's name?" he asked no one, tapping at the letters as if it held a secret guide. "Is it Sharon? Karen? Bob?"

"It's _Cheren_," a male voice stated, and Rosa felt some of her fear vanish as the speaker walked through those doors. He didn't look much older than them, and Rosa was willing to admit that he was actually pretty good-looking. He seemed sort of annoyed, though, as if people had been pronouncing the name wrong all day. "My name is Cheren."

And the panic returned with a vengeance. "You're the Gym Leader?" Rosa squeaked, looking again at the young man. "I...will I have to challenge you?"

Cheren's irritation faded, quickly morphing into amusement. "Only if you want the Basic Badge."

Nate stared at Cheren in obvious confusion. "I thought Lenora gave out the Basic Badge."

"Oh, she did. Then I killed her, took the rights to the badge, and fed her corpse to my Pokémon." Cheren gave them a smile that would have won Rosa over if it hadn't involved a blunt reference to murder. Realizing that his guests weren't amused, he quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. I forgot that some people don't like jokes about murder as much as Hilda and I do. I'll try to remember around my students and future challengers."

Rosa sighed, then glanced back at Cheren. "Will you promise to go as easy on me as the Pokémon League rules will let you? I'm kind of nervous - it's my first badge."

"And you're my very first challenger," Cheren stated, leading them into the back of the school. An Emboar stood by a large platform, but judging by the look on its face, Cheren wouldn't be using it in battle. Instead, it seemed to be acting as a living space heater - it was a rather cold autumn day, and the outdoor stadium wasn't exactly protected any other way. Greg seemed to be fascinated with his final form, though the Emboar didn't seem to be paying any attention to anything.

"Are you ready, Rosa?" Cheren asked, standing up on a platform.

"Not really."

"Then perhaps a warm-up match will make you more comfortable."

A girl stepped out from behind Emboar, grumbling about the cold. But, she took her position across from Rosa, and the battle began.

* * *

Rosa faced off against Cheren ten minutes later, and though Mareep took down his Patrat with only mild difficulty, the Lillipup was the true challenge. He kept calling for Work Up, leaving Rosa open to order a Thunder Wave, but the sheep was no match for the puppy and went down after one Tackle.

Fortunately, she still had Greg.

"Use Tail Whip!" Rosa commanded, and though the attack did no damage, she could tell it had the desired effect.

"Work Up!" Cheren ordered, and once more, Lillipup focused all its energy.

What happened next may have been just in Rosa's head, but it was real enough.

"Now," Cheren called, striking a dramatic pose, "Hyper Beam! Hyper Beam everything!"

The flash of purple light shot across the battlefield, hitting everything but the humans and the Emboar and leaving Greg unable to battle. Cheren's side of the field was obscured by clouds of dust and smoke, she couldn't see Nate anywhere, and she heard the Gym Leader laugh, a cruel, bone-chilling sound that would make any comic book villain jealous.

When Rosa woke from her daydream, she found her Tepig still unable to continue, though the battlefield was clear and sunny. Cheren wasn't laughing, definitely not evilly, and in fact seemed rather shocked that he had just won his first battle as a Gym Leader. Rosa tried not to look too embarrassed at the situation...sometimes her nerves just got the better of her.

"Is that really the best you could do?" He didn't mean to sound rude, it just slipped out before he could catch himself. Fortunately, Rosa hadn't been paying attention.

"I'm so sorry!" she wailed, lifting her poor, helpless Tepig off the ground. "I let my imagination run wild again, and I lost track of the battle. Cheren just called for a Hyper Beam -"

"Lillipup doesn't know Hyper Beam," Cheren pointed out. "What gave you the idea that it did?"

"I know that now," she sighed, "but ordering Lillipup to, quote, 'Hyper Beam everything' and then giving an evil laugh...I'll try harder to stay focused next time. Promise."

Greg jumped out of her arms, only to give her a happy Tepig smile. Rosa smiled back, and then she noticed that both the Gym Leader and her new friend seemed concerned. "I'm not really prone to hallucinations, I promise. I just get _too_ scared sometimes, and then I imagine the worst of things."

Nate helped her to her feet. "Come on," he said, as she called Greg back to his ball. "We can go to your mom or the Pokémon Center. Your choice."

* * *

As soon as they left the Gym, however, the pair ran into a vaguely familiar face. Bianca, it seemed, had heard that they were going to challenge the Gym Leader, and had arrived a bit too late to give her support.

"That bad, huh?" she asked when she caught the look on Rosa's face.

"A two-to-one victory," Rosa explained as she headed back to the Pokémon Center to heal up. Nate, however, decided to stay and have a conversation, like a normal human being.

"So, what's Professor Juniper like?" he asked, attempting to imagine the scientist. All he knew was that she was the only one authorized to give a kid a Pokedex, after her father had decided to devote his entire time to outside research.

"Tough question," Bianca muttered, but they were fortunately spared from the conversation by the arrival of Cheren. He seemed to be heading out for something important, but froze when he saw the two humans blocking the doorway to his Gym.

Nate saw it coming the moment the pair made awkward eye contact. He wondered briefly if he should be filming this...but decided against it as the conversation began.

"It's been about two years, hasn't it?" Cheren asked, ignoring the boy and focusing only on Bianca. "Since we went on our journey, I mean."

"Indeed it has," Bianca said, her voice cold as she stared at him. "You think you would have stayed in contact over all that time."

"My tranceiver broke. And then Hilda told me you'd lost yours. It wasn't on purpose." He tore his eyes away from the girl to focus on the red roof of the Pokémon Center, attempting to hide from the awkward situation, playing with his tie. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Professor Juniper sent me to give Rosa a Pokedex. And you?"

"I'm the Gym Leader here."

Nate was distracted by a soft, girly giggle. "I ship it."

Turning to look, he saw a young girl watching from behind him. He suddenly realized that this was Hugh's little sister. "Where did you come from?" he demanded, and then he thought of a much more important question. "You're, what, eight? How do you even know what shipping is?"

"Hugh and Rosa," she replied with a shrug. "Now, shush. I'm watching."

Cheren and Bianca didn't seem to be having interesting romantic moments, but the awkwardness itself could have won an award. When it became obvious that the pair was not going to do anything besides stand there, the little shipper decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Hey, Mr. Gym Leader?"

Cheren apparently didn't see what was coming on. "Yes?"

"Obviously, you two need to at least get your friendship back on track. Why don't you and this Bianca girl explore the town together?"

Cheren scoffed. "Please. You may not completely understand, but I can't leave my job in the middle of it."

Bianca just laughed. Some things never change. "Don't worry, Cheren. I think it's a great idea. After all, I never properly thanked you for keeping me safe on our journey, did I?" She linked her arm with his and started to lead him away. "Come on, I'll buy you some coffee."

"But the Gym -"

"Oh, come on! All the other Gym Leaders get up and leave at random, you know. What's an hour or two to catch up with an old friend?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, he gave up completely. "I guess some things never change - you're still dragging me everywhere."

"No. You're voluntarily following." Bianca smiled. "Now, I need your help. You live here now. Where's the best place to get coffee in this town?"

No sooner had the pair left than Rosa returned, Greg and Mareep close behind. "What did I miss?"


	4. The First Badge

**In which Rosa gets another mission.**

It took about two days and a hundred wild battles for Rosa to gather up the courage to battle Cheren again. Nate had his camera at the ready, preparing to document each and every step to his friend becoming the Champion. The school seemed to have gotten a few visiting challengers since then, but Cheren was waiting for the rematch with his first-ever challenger. Rosa knew she probably couldn't make it to Virbank City without a Basic Badge, but she'd caught an Azurill on a revisit to Flocessy Ranch. Perhaps she could win with three Pokémon instead of two...

"Are you sure you don't want to borrow Riolu?" Nate asked as they walked up to the school. "He's got the type advantage -"

"But traded Pokémon don't obey until their new trainer has enough badges," Rosa pointed out. "Come on, let's go before I lose my nerve."

Nate watched her disappear into the school building, and spoke to Toby and Riolu. "She's braver than she thinks she is, isn't she?"

"Tepig."

"Rii..."

"Why aren't you guys here?" Rosa's voice wailed from inside, and Nate quickly recalled his Pokémon to join her. The Gym Leader was nowhere in sight, but Bianca was sitting happily on the battle platform.

"Cheren will be here in just a moment," she said, swinging her feet over the side. "He gave me permission to play referee in this match, since I wanted to cheer you both on so badly."

Rosa had other things on her mind. "Where have you been sleeping these past few days?"

"With the Gym Leader," Bianca answered immediately, oblivious to everything outside her own head. "I suppose Professor Juniper will need me soon, but I didn't want to leave my friend yet."

Anything else they may have said was cut off by a very tired-looking Cheren. He was holding a cup of coffee as if it were his life source, muttering a string of words that probably shouldn't have been said on school grounds.

"Is this a bad time?" Rosa asked quietly, getting his attention.

"No," Cheren said, shooing Bianca off the platform so she could stand as referee. "I just don't like the cold."

"And yet, your Gym is outside, in a town known for cold winters."

Cheren glared at her over his coffee cup. "Don't question my bad decisions," he ordered, and Rosa felt her fear increase as he pulled out a Pokeball. "All right. I'll use Patrat and Lillipup, same as the first time. Are you ready?"

_No. No, I'm not, but I have to pretend._

Rosa pulled out a ball of her own. "Azurill, let's go!"

The little mouse squeaked as she took her place on the field, ready to battle. Bianca squealed at its cuteness while Cheren released Patrat, before she seemed to remember what she was supposed to be doing.

"Ready?" Bianca called as Nate turned on his camera. "Battle begin!"

* * *

"And victory goes to the challenger!" Bianca declared twenty minutes later, as Rosa and a worn-out Greg collapsed in relief. Mareep and Azurill were both down, but Greg had made it with six health points to spare. Rosa hoped she'd never have to fight another Normal-type specialist ever again.

Nate turned the camera off before rushing over to congratulate her, while Cheren pulled her off the ground and placed a small purple rectangle in her hand.

"It's the Basic Badge," he explained, noticing her confusion. "You defeated me, so you've earned it. Am I making sense, or do you need further explanation?"

"Cheren," Bianca scolded, lightly smacking her friend on the shoulder. "Be nice." She turned to Nate and Rosa, before asking to borrow Rosa's tranciever.

Rosa removed the device from her wrist almost unconsciously, handing it over with just one word: "Why?"

"I figured we should all have each other," Bianca explained as she fiddled with it, "so Cheren and I won't lose touch again, and you can contact us any time you want to." She took a bit longer than Rosa had expected, but she gave it back. "I also added Professor Juniper to yours."

Speaking of, Bianca's communication device went off, signaling her own incoming call. No sooner had Bianca turned it on than a woman's voice cut through the air.

"Bianca? Where are you?"

"I'm, uh, still in Aspertia City," Bianca admitted. "I gave Rosa her Pokémon, but then I ran into Cheren and...well, I got a bit sidetracked."

"Oh, that's right! I heard Cheren was the new Gym Leader over there. How is it, Cheren?"

Cheren seemed to know the woman enough to not be startled by the question, and even smiled a little as he answered. "Well, it would be better if I could use my regular team, but it's all right."

"And I gave your number to Rosa," Bianca added. "I can get her to talk to you, if that's ok."

Bianca showed Rosa her tranceiver, where the new trainer saw the face of the mysterious Professor Juniper for the first time. She didn't look like a criminal mastermind that enjoyed tormenting people. "Are you enjoying your journey so far, Rosa?"

An honest answer was the best answer. "Other than my best friend going borderline bipolar, being stalked by a kid with hair like a palm tree, and several close encounters with Sewaddles, I'm loving it." She picked up Greg and waved his stubby little front leg at the watch. "I chose Tepig, see?"

"Well, I hope you can still continue. You can call me at any time, and I'm sure Cheren and Bianca will give you their own types of advice." She frowned suddenly. "Bianca?"

Bianca turned the tranceiver back on herself. "Yes, Professor?"

"You're falling behind on your assignment. Research is all about dedication."

Bianca turned bright red and hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry, Professor. I'll get right on that."

"It's not that it wasn't expected," Juniper laughed. "But honestly, all three of you have jobs to do. I don't want any of you losing focus completely."

And she signed off. Bianca, still red, muttered an apology to the other three and started out the door, but was cut off by Hugh's arrival.

"All right, Gym Leader!" he huffed, standing across from a startled Cheren. "Battle me now! I'm on a tight schedule!"

Bianca giggled as her friend set down his coffee in preparation. "I guess being a Gym Leader is tougher than I thought," she said, before shrugging and leading the others away. "Come on, Rosa. I think your mom wants to talk to you."

* * *

Bianca had gone ahead to continue her research, leaving Nate to head home to explain to his parents that he was, in fact, running off with some girl and going beyond Virbank. Rosa's mother healed her Pokémon completely, then turned very serious.

"You'll be a great trainer, Rosa," she said with a smile, but Rosa could tell there was something else she wanted to say. "There's just something you should be concerned with."

"Team Plasma's back," Rosa stated, cuddling Azurill.

Her mother froze. "How did you -"

"I found one of them in Flocessy Ranch," Rosa admitted. "How did _you_ know?"

Her mother looked ashamed. "Professor Juniper heard a rumor, and I wanted to warn you to be careful. I didn't know the rumor was true. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"I'm sure Nate can. That's something, right?" Rosa tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it. "Later, Mom. I'll come back if I survive."

She was halfway out the door when she heard her mother's voice again. "Rosa?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on Hugh, won't you?"

Rosa snorted. "You think _Hugh_ would join Team Plasma?" She hadn't paid that much attention to the news two years earlier, but from what she'd heard from Hugh, he was the least likely person to put on the weird costume the man in Flocessy Ranch had been wearing.

Her mother, apparently, agreed. "I don't believe that, no...but I do believe that he might get himself hurt if he tries to take them down himself. You've held the boy's leash for so many years, I thought he might listen to you now and then. I don't want to explain to his parents that their son died doing something stupid."

"Do you know why he might want to do something stupid?"

"I was never told. But, Rosa...take care of yourself, too."

"You know me," Rosa said with a grin. "I'm a pretty fast runner, especially in a direction marked 'away.' I'll be fine."

The moment was interrupted by Rosa's tranceiver going off. It was Nate, and he was anxious to move on.

"Come on, then," he whined when Rosa told him she was just heading out. "I'll be waiting just outside of town. Hurry up - Virbank City has a Gym and Pokestar Studios."

* * *

"Virbank City's just on the other side of Flocessy Town," Nate said when Rosa had joined him. "Think you can handle all the Sewaddles until we get there?"

Rosa just laughed, creeping out her new friend just a bit. "You mean you're the one who will handle the Sewaddles. I'll send Greg out to be my bodyguard."

Nate grabbed on to her hand, paying no attention. "Well, then," he said, a wide smile spreading across his face, "Allons-y!"

Rosa groaned. _What have I agreed to?_


	5. The Virbank Complex

**ALTERNATE CHAPTER TITLE: Attack of the Living Magnets**

Nate and Rosa met several people on Route 20, most of them challenging the pair to battles. It wasn't necessarily bad, but Rosa wanted to get to Virbank City as soon as possible, and she was not happy with all the people trapping her here, on a route with Sewaddles. Luckily, Cheren and Hugh quickly came to her rescue, leading her over to a patch of dark grass.

It had apparently been Cheren's idea, since Hugh was staring intently at the Gym Leader in a way that made Rosa uncomfortable. If he started his..._thing_ right now, she would just have to pretend she didn't know him.

Luckily, he kept his rage reasonably under control this time. "I'm pretty sure we all know how to capture Pokémon, Cheren."

"I _know_ you all know how to capture Pokémon," Cheren said, over Hugh's continued rabling. "I just came to let you know that the dark grass could be trouble."

"I know that, too," Hugh growled. "Why bother explaining that?"

"Because I'm not sure Nate and Rosa do."

"We do," Nate agreed. Hugh proudly gestured to him, grateful for someone capable of proving his point that Cheren was useless in this particular situation and should just get back to the gym and prepare for more challengers.

However, Rosa had to ruin it. "I don't know about the dark grass," she grumbled, kicking the dirt. "Don't I count in this?"

"Two Pokémon can jump out at you at the same time, making it much more difficult to catch any," Hugh explained. "Anything else, Cheren?"

Cheren adjusted his tie, clearly annoyed that Hugh was teaching his lesson for him. "Well, I'm sure it's nothing you don't know," he said, and turned and left.

Rosa smacked Hugh on the shoulder. "Way to go. You ticked off a Gym Leader."

He didn't seem to mind that. "We don't need him, anyway. Come on, Rosa...Palm-Tree."

"My name is Nate!"

"I don't care."

Nate growled something at him, before he stormed away, leaving a scared and infuriated Rosa behind with Hugh. She made a rude hand gesture at Nate's back, making Hugh actually laugh, before she remembered that Nate was her traveling companion and Hugh was just her rival.

The girl turned to her old friend, who merely wandered into the very same dark grass that the Gym Leader had warned them about. "Do you mind if I go?" she asked quietly.

"Go on," Hugh said, waving her away. "You don't want to have to deal with forest gods or whatever, do you?"

Hearing a Sewaddle's battle cry confirmed the statement, and she released her Tepig to protect her. As he took down multiple Pokémon on his path to get stronger, she wondered briefly if Nate had trained Toby and Riolu at all. She'd ask once she found him.

* * *

No sooner had Rosa and Nate set foot in Virbank City when her mother called. Nate tried not to eavesdrop, but it quickly proved impossible unless he left Rosa behind _again _and wandered into Pokestar Studios by himself, but he doubted his friend even knew where it was. So he sat back and tried not to pay attention, which as you all know made him the most focused he'd ever been.

The conversation was mostly one-sided on the mother's part, as the daughter made agreeing sounds in an attempt to shut her up. Nate watched as the last "Okay, Mom" triggered a goodbye, and then he pointed out exactly what Rosa had been saying.

"She was telling you to check out the Virbank Complex," he told her, watching his friend go visibly paler. "You should really pay attention to what you're agreeing to."

"But my mom...she's my mother," Rosa protested lamely, aware of the redundancy of that statement. "She knows I don't like the Complex, it scares me."

"Maybe she's telling you to be brave," Nate suggested. "You have Greg, Mareep and Azurill to protect you. And who knows, you might catch another useful Pokémon or two."

"But at this rate, I might end up filling my entire party before my third badge!"

"I didn't think there was anything wrong with that, actually." Nate started forward. "Well, if that happens, we'll call this Professor Juniper woman at the Pokémon Center and see if she's willing to take care of some of them for you."

Their path to the Pokémon Center, however, was cut off by the sight of a girl not much younger than them yelling at a man that the pair immediately took to be her father.

"Come on, Dad!" the girl snapped, confirming Nate and Rosa's suspicions. "You can't honestly imagine that this will work out!"

"And what, dear daughter, makes you think it won't?" The man gave the girl the famous Dad Look, not the one that silently asked what the child was smoking, but the one that said that he was the parent here and therefore right. "You balance your time between being a Gym Leader and with your band. I can have two jobs, too."

"But a _ship captain_ and an _actor_?"

"This conversation is done, Roxie," said the man. "I will be at Pokestar Studios if you need me." Without another word to his daughter, Roxie's father turned and left.

For a moment, Roxie, Nate and Rosa all stared after him, speechless. And then Roxie found her voice.

"You dim-witted...dense...dumb...daft...dippy...dorky.. .doltish _doofus_!" she shouted, the volume of it making the others cringe. "How could you be such a...aaagh!" She picked a pebble off the ground and threw it, apparently out of semi-polite D words.

"Are you ok?" Nate asked, and Roxie squeaked in surprise. Apparently, she hadn't noticed them standing there, and was immediately embarrassed to have them hear her argument with her father.

Said embarrassment was the 'anger-inducing' kind, however. "Who are you?"

"I'm Nate, this is Rosa. Don't mind us, we're just looking for the Gym."

"Well, you might have overheard dear old Dad point out that I was the Gym Leader," she laughed a little, obviously still upset with her father. "You guys challengers?"

"She is," Nate said, grabbing Rosa by the wrist so she couldn't get away. "I'm just here to watch. Are you up for challengers?"

"Sorry. I've got band practice." Roxie thought it over, then seemed to come up with an idea. "All right, why don't you head over to the Virbank Complex? You can train while I practice, and we'll have our battle after."

And so Roxie left, while Rosa was dragged along behind Nate as he went to check out the mysterious Virbank Complex.

* * *

Rosa had to admit, it wasn't actually scary when she had Nate and their Pokémon with her. It was nothing like the time when she was six and had gotten separated from her mother, and was left alone with one friendly Magnemite. Rosa couldn't really remember much besides crying like a baby and her mother's warm embrace when she'd been found, but she dimly recalled the Magnemite trying to get her up and moving back to the city.

Greg and Riolu seemed to take on the role of 'protectors' this time around, and they found themselves suddenly facing a Magnemite. It came as a surprise to Nate that Rosa wasn't whimpering in fear, and it shocked them all when she approached it.

"Hi, there," she said, smiling but still cautious, preparing to call her Tepig to take it out if she had to. "We're not here to do any permanent harm. Do you think you can help us train for the upcoming Gym battle?"

The Magnemite buzzed, sounding ridiculously thoughtful, and then let out a Screech that brought out a swarm of other Pokemon from the tall grass.

"Not what I meant!" Rosa whined, but it had to be done. They had to fight.

* * *

"All right, Magnemite!" Rosa whined about twenty minutes later, the red and white ball falling from her hands as she got onto her knees to beg. "You win! Call them off, call them off!"

The Magnemite flew in front of Rosa, and it seemed to be laughing at her. Its army stepped down, shaking off the effects of Greg and Toby's super-effective Ember attacks, and Riolu's Force Palm.

"You little jerk," Rosa grumbled, faceplanting into the dirt. Magnemite's buzzing laughter grew louder. "I _meant_ one or two volunteers at a time."

Whatever the Magnemite said in return, it made Greg snort while Rosa's other Pokémon rolled their eyes. Azurill even disappeared back into her ball, muttering something in her own tongue about how she was too tired to deal with this nonsense.

Nate grinned and held out his hand, apparently forgetting that Magnemite couldn't shake it. "Thanks for the idea, Magnemite," he said, to the Pokémon's amazement. "This will make a _really_ interesting scene for a film."

The Magnemite flew into his mess of hair, and immediately decided that it liked it there. Whatever this stuff on the human's head was, it was pretty comfortable, even to a creature with metal skin. Funny-looking, but comfortable.

"Do you want to come with us, Magnemite?" Rosa offered. "I was told that it might be a good idea to bring a Magnemite for the Virbank Gym."

Magnemite buzzed and attempted to hide itself further in Nate's mess, to the point that it was just two magnets poking out of the sides and a large screw sticking up out of the top.

"You could come with me, instead," Nate offered, holding out a ball. "Just promise to let Rosa use you if she needs to."

Magnemite made another thoughtful sound, then leapt into the ball.

Nate, rather than getting excited about his new catch, suddenly grew paler as a thought came to him. "Rosa?" he said, eyes flashing toward his movie subject. "What, exactly, do Magnemites eat?"


	6. A Poisonous Person

**Rosa vs. Roxie: Battle for the Toxic Badge!**

After training for a few more hours to let Magnemite get used to the two of them, healing at the Pokémon Center, and making a trade along the way(Azurill for Magnemite) Nate and Rosa were finally standing just outside the Gym. Azurill bounced along on her tail, wanting to watch Magnemite battle. At the moment, though, the far more entertaining option was watching Rosa attempt to give a pep talk.

"All right," Rosa said, more to herself than to the Pokémon. "I may not be the most fearless person in the world, but the excitement of battling pushes that aside. So, for this match, I want your undying loyalty, at least until I have this badge in my hand. And I mean _all_ of you." She glanced at Nate's Magnemite, and it immediately started whistling. How it could do so without a mouth was a mystery, but Rosa didn't question. "All right. So, do you guys promise you won't cause chaos and destruction unless I say so?"

Greg nodded, Mareep voiced her agreement, and Magnemite looked back at its true trainer for a second opinion.

"Do it," Nate instructed, playing with the strap on his bag. "You're her only hope."

When Rosa had Magnemite's agreement, she opened the door to the underground Gym. "All right! Let's go beat Roxie!"

She hoped she looked as confident as she sounded.

* * *

"It's loud in here!" Rosa whined, as the blaring music pounded against her eardrums. "They're still practicing, let's come back in a couple of hours..."

"No," Nate ordered. "Roxie said to give her about two hours of practice. It's been five."

"But I don't want to disturb them..."

"Go, Rosa!"

With a sigh, the donut-headed girl stepped forward, her hands over her ears, and tried speaking to the Gym Leader.

"Roxie? Roxie, I want to battle!" No answer. "Can you even hear me?" Still nothing. The other band members were playing too loudly for Roxie to hear her. Rosa didn't think she'd get a badge today...

Rosa turned to the drummer, who was pounding away on his instrument. "Excuse me!" she shouted over the noise. "Could you please turn it down? I want to earn a Gym badge!"

"What's that?" the drummer asked, who was also unable to hear the girl over the music. "A warm-up battle? Ok!"

"That's not what I -" Rosa started, but the drummer had already sent out his first Pokémon. It seemed there was no escape.

Nate turned on his camera as Rosa sent out her first choice. It wouldn't be that bad...

* * *

Rosa had defeated not only the drummer, but a guitarist as well, and hoped that that would be enough. Now it was just down to the singer/bass player, the Gym Leader herself.

"Oh, you're the girl from before," Roxie said, recognizing Rosa. "Why didn't you tell me you were ready earlier?"

"I did." Rosa held Greg's ball tightly, as if her little piggy could give her strength through the hard container. "You just couldn't hear me over the music."

"Oh. Well, then, let's just get on with our battle, shall we?" Roxie pulled a red and white ball from her sleeve. "I choose Koffing!"

Rosa took a deep breath. This was a battle. She could do this. That is, if her Pokémon were all willing. "Go, Magnemite!"

The borrowed creature faced its opponent with a kind of determination Rosa hadn't seen before, its single, large eye focused on the other legless being. Koffing blew a cloud of smog in anticipation.

"Koffing, start with Tackle!" Was the Gym Leader just as nervous as her challenger? Rosa wasn't sure. She was attracting attention, and was too busy trying not to hallucinate to pay much attention to Roxie. Maybe it was that affecting her judgement. She tried to focus on the fact that, as a Steel-type, Magnemite did have a ridiculously strong protection against most attacks.

"Magnemite, Sonicboom!" Rosa commanded, happy that her Basic Badge demanded some obedience from traded Pokémon but more happy that Nate had trained it to learn that move in the first place.

From the stands, Azurill watched in anticipation, bouncing on her tail. Nate signaled for Toby and Riolu to stop the distracting movement, leaving the little thing leaning on Toby in order to see and not distract the filmmaker from his work.

Meanwhile, Magnemite had defeated Koffing, leaving Roxie down to one Pokémon. Rosa closed her eyes to avoid looking as the Whirlipede made its appearance on the field, but commanded another Sonicboom anyway.

"Use Protect!" Roxie ordered, and the attack bounced harmlessly off the shield. Magnemite screeched in fury, and Whirlipede laughed at it.

Rosa figured it would be better if Magnemite worked with its real trainer on its issues, and came up with a backup plan. "Magnemite, come back! Let's let Greg handle this!"

Though Greg didn't have Magnemite's resistance to Poison-type moves, the Poison Sting attack missed its target. Rosa closed her eyes and hoped she wouldn't hallucinate and lose again.

"Greg, use Ember!"

Greg blew tiny fires at Whirlipede, who didn't bother to Protect in time. Roxie tried a different attack.

"Whirlipede, Venoshock!"

Greg made a weird noise as the poison hit, but one more Ember and Whirlipede was down. The Toxic Badge had been won, and Greg was already evolving into his second stage. Perhaps all that training had paid off.

* * *

"Here," Roxie said, handing the victorious challenger her new Toxic Badge. "You beat me, after all."

"Pignite!" Greg cheered, punching the air with his little piggy fist in celebration.

Over the applause being given by Nate and Riolu, there was the sound of another person clapping. Rosa turned, surprised she hadn't noticed this man before. He was a young man, probably in his mid-20's, and easy to recognize with his bright yellow afro. He came closer, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Hello, I'm a talent scout from Pokestar Studios, and I think you have some potential."

"Wait a minute," Nate declared, cutting the man off as he stepped in front of Rosa, almost as if he was jealous. "Rosa is _my_ star. I'm traveling with her specifically so I can make a documentary." He patted his camera for emphasis.

Rosa went completely pale. "You've been filming me this whole time?"

"Yeah." Nate seemed confused. "Didn't you know that?"

"I thought you were _writing _about me! Making a script out of my adventures for some professional actress to use!"

"Why did you think I had the camera?"

"Why did you catch a Magnemite if you wanted it in one piece?" Rosa retaliated.

The talent scout glanced at Roxie for an explanation, but the Gym Leader just picked up her bass once again. "I just met them."

The man put one hand on each teen's head, gently forcing them apart. "So why don't you both come by Pokestar Studios?" he suggested, as the two fell silent. "Who knows, maybe Rosa will come to enjoy being in the spotlight."

"I doubt that," Rosa grumbled. But what choice did she have?


	7. Movie Star?

**RATED I FOR INSANITY: Weird hair, Brycen, Sabrina, and piggies.**

**Yes, I know this is generally not how Sabrina is portrayed, especially by the anime and manga. But when we saw her in Pokestar Studios, we had to put her in there...in our own way.**

* * *

The talent scout led an excited Nate right to the place he'd wanted to see most of all when he'd started his journey. Nate, in turn, dragged Rosa across town in an attempt to cheer her up. It was a lost cause: She'd changed her mind halfway out of the gym. She struggled, swore, threatened, and otherwise put up a magnificent fight, dead set against being in anything ever again without her consent. The scout was concerned, but Nate refused to let his friend darken his mood.

"I've only ever filmed your battles," Nate said, dodging what would have been a well-aimed fist. "I honestly thought you knew."

"Maybe I _am_ overreacting a little," Rosa admitted, giving up the struggle. "I just might lose all my nerve when battling if I know there's a camera recording every move I made..." A sudden thought struck her, and her mood quickly flipped from 'calm' to 'horrified.' "You didn't record my first battle with Cheren, did you?"

"Um..." Well, that didn't sound good. "I turned it off before I found out you hallucinated, so it's not like you have too much to be embarrassed about."

Rosa looked back at the talent scout, who hadn't noticed his discoveries had fallen behind. "But I don't have to be in any production not directed by you, right?"

"Not unless you want to."

Her answering smile was nearly as bright as the sun, and she pulled her hand from his grip to follow him of her own free will. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, she decided. She didn't have to be in anything, and maybe she'd meet a few movie stars.

What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Once they reached the studio, however, things got weird pretty fast. While the talent scout was going on and on to the man in charge, praising Rosa's battle skills, the kids looked around at the studio, taking in the crew of strange people and their even stranger Pokémon.

In one corner of the room, a man stood with a cup of coffee in one hand and a Grumpig plush toy in the other, paying no attention to the new arrivals or the confused looks he was getting. A pair of young women chattered away, incomprehensible to the amazed children, as they went to go be extras in whatever was being filmed. A third woman, speaking with a thick accent that Rosa could barely understand, was congratulating a team of actors for a job well done as they started to head back to the main hall for break.

"Brycen!" the director shouted, getting Grumpig-man's attention. Rosa could see the man clearly, now, and she quickly covered her mouth to muffle her laughter. He was wearing what seemed to be half a bathrobe for a shirt, and a very strange-looking mask. He was probably an actor, she realized, in costume. "Come and meet the little monsters that have been brought to our studio. I am told the girl is exceedingly talented in battle."

Brycen's only response was to hold up the toy, which confused Nate even further. "I'm babysitting," he said, as if that explained everything.

"Well, put it in her dressing room. I'm sure she won't mind."

"You don't know her, do you?" But Brycen set the plush toy on a chair and came forward, studying the two children. "What's wrong with their hair?"

"Who knows?" the director said, shaking his head. "But look past that, Brycen. The girl has been said to have incredible battling skills. The boy...I believe he is her pet."

"I'm her agent," Nate corrected, fighting the impulse to hiss at both of them. "Rosa doesn't get to do anything unless I say so."

"If you insist," the man said, before returning his attention to Brycen. "Do you think she will be a suitable replacement for the captain?"

"If she can follow a script, I'm sure she will play the role much better." Brycen seemed to want to put the whole memory of the previous attempt out of his mind. It kind of made Nate curious as to how the captain's attempt went.

The director turned to Rosa. "Can you read, miss?"

"Yeah. But shouldn't you actually hire a professional instead of some nobody off the street?" she challenged.

"That's what I said," Brycen stated, but the director looked embarrassed.

"Because the original actor...had problems. So, why not brighten up the screen with a new face?"

"Can't you have just faked the battle to make it look like her Pokémon won?"

"No, no! You see, these Pokémon _like_ to battle! Anything but real action won't satisfy them!" The director looked back at her. "What do you say?"

"Just one short film?"

"Just one short film."

"With Brycen?"

"Yes."

Rosa looked up at the masked man, clearly nervous. But anything that would have been said was lost when a voice carried across the studio, sounding precisely like a deranged four-year-old.

"Brycen," the voice called, and Rosa whimpered and tried to hide. "Brycen? Where did you go?" There was a pause, then a woman's laughter. "Man, I sound creepy. _Are you my mummy?_" she quoted, back to her childish voice.

Brycen looked as though the woman's mere presence was a great annoyance, or perhaps just her obscure references, but he picked up the Grumpig plush and handed it to her without a word, receiving a slight smile in response. The director, too, noticed her, and brightened up.

"Ah, yes!" he cheered, taking her hand. "This is another actor who has lost the hero of her movie! Perhaps, while one of you works with Brycen, the other could partner with Sabrina?"

The woman, Sabrina, gave the pair a curious look over the toy's head. "Who are the kids, and what's wrong with their hair?"

"A question many would like answered," the director said, nodding wisely. "Well, then. I'll be off!"

And he was gone.

Rosa thought Sabrina seemed much less intimidating when holding the toy, and dared to speak. "Aren't you a little old to be playing with dolls?" she asked, locking her eyes on the Grumpig.

"Aren't you a little short to be...doing whatever it is you do?" Seeming to realize the stupidity of the question, Sabrina quickly explained that the Grumpig was just a memory of her home. "My friend gave him to me as a joke birthday gift. I suppose I just didn't want to part with him."

"Don't you have a part to play, Sabrina?" Brycen asked, and she shrugged.

"I forgot how to pronounce my character's name again," Sabrina admitted. "It's Queen...something that starts with a B. Belladonna? Bethany? Maybe it's Queen Bananabellabongo, I don't know."

"Bellelba," Brycen corrected, and Sabrina gave him a skeptical look.

"Have you been reading my scripts?"

"One of us has to."

Rosa calmed even more, witnessing their mock-arguing. "You guys are pretty good friends, aren't you?"

"_Just_ good friends," Sabrina stated, catching the direction Rosa's thoughts were heading. "Don't go shipping us."

Nate cleared his throat, reminding everyone that he was still there. "While this is fun and all, can we do something actually important? Like, oh...watching Rosa and Brycen in action on the big screen? It's a short film, after all. I'm sure she can handle it."

"I'm not," Rosa objected, but maybe Brycen would help her out. He seemed nice enough.

* * *

"Perfect!" the director called, as soon as Brycen spoke the final line. The cameras stopped rolling, Brycen dropped his villain act, and Rosa/Riolu Girl sighed in relief. "Perhaps Rosa could find a bit more confidence in herself, but that will be good enough. The film should be out in the test theater tomorrow -"

"And we should be halfway to the next town by then," Rosa interrupted. "Tell us how it went if you ever see us again. Come on, Nate," she added, noticing her companion seemed to be reluctant to leave. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt sleeve to keep him with her and not here in the studios. "You'll be back someday."

"I guess..."

But it was her turn to drag him along, helped some by her Pignite. She had no idea where she was going next, but it couldn't be too bad.

Until, of course, she noticed that there seemed to be something off about Virbank City.


	8. Evil PETA Ninjas

**All right, so Team Plasma's even less PETA-like than before, but why waste a good joke by only using it once?**

Roxie was standing outside her Gym, her bass left safely on the stage inside and guarded by the other band members. She was speaking to three people wearing black Team Plasma uniforms, attempting to get some kind of story out of them. Rosa nearly turned around and headed home right then. After all, she knew better than to get involved in Team Plasma's plans. But Nate dragged her forward as the Gym Leader started talking.

"So you're the Team Plasma I heard about," Roxie said, her critical blue eyes moving from one operative to another, never resting, seeming to be searching their very souls. "What do you want?"

The ninja-dressed man stared back, catching and holding the girl's stare. "Two years ago," he began, selecting his words carefully, "I made banana pudding -"

"Wrong story!" one of his friends hissed, and the first man corrected himself.

"I mean, two years ago, we were betrayed by the one we respected as our king. Just when we were about to win the war, that stubborn brat and her idiot brother got in our way. He chose them over us, and his Zoroark ate my banana pudding! So our previous conquest ended in failure. But what we're doing here, Gym Leader, is only Phase One of our new master plan!"

And he shoved her aside as he tried to move past her, but was cut off by a very loud voice coming from somewhere nearby.

"Leave her alone, you freaks!"

Hugh skidded to a stop, barely missing Nate, Rosa and Roxie. He pulled a Pokeball from his belt, staring down Team Plasma. "Leave the Gym Leader alone," he repeated through his teeth. "I'll fight, too."

Roxie looked confused. There was no other description for it: one eyebrow went up, the other down, her head tilted to the left, and her lips pressed together as she tried to figure out what this weird kid was doing. Rosa understood that feeling far too well.

Hugh turned to the other boy, knowing Rosa wouldn't want to assist. "Hey, you! Nick, wasn't it? Come on, help us kick butt."

"I'll hold the camera!" Rosa announced before Nate could answer, snatching it out of his hands.

Thinking that perhaps following Rosa wasn't the best idea after all, Nate had no choice but to join Hugh and Roxie in their fight. It couldn't be that difficult...

* * *

After Team Plasma was defeated, they scattered, but Hugh and Roxie quickly gave chase. Rosa seemed to realize that she and Nate would have to join in, and they followed behind at a slow, sad pace. It was on the way that Nate finally managed to put into words what he had been wondering since the very first day.

"Why are you friends with that guy, anyway?" Nate asked, and Rosa shrugged.

"It's complicated," she admitted, getting down to tie her shoe. "But don't worry. Hugh's actually pretty nice, deep down."

"_How_ deep?" Nate questioned, and Rosa laughed nervously.

"It's there. Trust me."

Nate turned on his camera, preparing to show off his star. "Can I ask the future Champion for a bit of her backstory?"

Rosa blushed. "I'm not entirely sure I want to be Champion."

"Come on. For the film."

It was down to this. She should have known he'd play this card. "Well, I guess a little backstory wouldn't hurt. It was around five years ago. I'd seen Hugh around town before then, of course, but he was a year ahead of me in school and I'd never really interacted with him until that day. I'm me, I was still having a bit of trouble not running away from people of any age. I had just discovered that I'm much calmer when I have something in my mouth, and lollipops have always been my favorite candy, so my mom bought me a big one that day and set me loose in the park."

"And how did you meet Hugh?" Nate prodded, waving her on as the camera recorded.

"I'm getting there," Rosa said, apparently oblivious to the camera now, walking normally as she spoke and searched for Team Plasma simultaneously. "I found Hugh and his sister about twenty minutes later. She was crying, and he was vowing revenge, that sort of thing. Naturally, that got me interested, so I offered her a lick of my lollipop."

"After you had already left your spit all over it."

"I was ten! Anyway, he started yelling at me, she started crying harder, and I was too confused about everything so I just started sucking on my candy again and tried to tune it all out. And then Hugh gave me a black eye, and we've been friends ever since."

Nate paused in his searching to stare. "He blacked your eye, and you became his best friend?"

"I told you it was complicated," Rosa reminded him. "But that's not really the whole story. Actually, I locked myself in my room for about two weeks and hid from everything. But then his mom made him give me a whole boquet of little lollipops as an apology gift and he promised to be my bodyguard from then on, so I figured I could forgive him."

Nate clicked off the camera as they reached the entrance to town. "Think they managed to find them?"

Rosa sighed. "Probably not. Come on. The sooner we find Team Plasma, the sooner we can put it behind us."

* * *

Sure enough, that was when they heard Hugh's voice, only barely quieted through distance. They found him cornering Roxie, who seemed less interested than she should have been. Dead leaves crunched under her boots as she tried to get past him, but Rosa knew her friend too well, and knew that the poor Gym Leader didn't stand a chance.

"You had them, and you let them get away?" Hugh growled, his furious eyes locked onto Roxie's. "What came over you?"

Rosa flinched as the sound of Hugh's voice cut through the air, but Roxie didn't seem to be afraid. Instead, she started off again, as if determined to find Team Plasma again and make up for her previous mistake.

"Don't question my bad decisions," she said, as if it didn't bother her at all, and more crunching ensued as she trotted over to where a grunt waited for her.

Hugh gritted his teeth. "Wonderful girl," he said, watching her go. "Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her."

Nate opened his mouth, about to point out the Star Wars quote, but Rosa shook her head as Hugh turned back to them. "Trust me, Nate. You don't want to do that when he's in this mood."

Hugh pretended he didn't notice either of them until right that second. "Come on, Rosa. There's probably more of them waiting."

* * *

"Sorry again for letting him go," Roxie said, watching carefully as Hugh, Nate and Rosa gathered up the other Team Plasma grunts. "I didn't think he'd run after I beat him in battle."

"Well, we've got him now," Hugh said, much less angry with Roxie now that Team Plasma had been captured again. "Now what do we do with them?"

"Let us go?" the female grunt suggested hopefully. "We were only following orders, after all. We won't bother Virbank City again."

The four young teenagers all thought it over, but the grunts took their chance to escape. Roxie didn't seem to mind much, though, and surprisingly, neither did Hugh.

"One of them said something interesting," he said, looking at Nate and Rosa in particular. "They were talking like Team Plasma was going somewhere by ship. Castelia City has a port or twelve, we should check there next. Or at least warn the Gym Leader, see if he or she can stop them."

"Castelia's Gym Leader met the old Team Plasma two years ago," Roxie stated, running her hand through her hair. "He might be able to handle things, though I'm not stopping you three from going anywhere."

"Are you going to warn him about this?"

Roxie thought it over, then shook her head. "Nah. He can handle it. I'm just going to find my dad and see if he can take you to Castelia."

"Us too, right?" Nate asked, and she laughed.

"Of course. Then he won't pick on me for asking just for one boy." She looked back at Hugh. "Coming, Qwilfish?"

"I guess I've got nothing better to do now."

And they both broke into a run, trying to see who could find the captain first. Nate followed behind them, once more dragging a reluctant Rosa.

"Come on," he begged as she put all her weight into not being dragged. "The sooner you get your next badge, the sooner our journey will be over."

Rosa couldn't help it. She laughed. "Well, then. Can't argue with that logic."


	9. Playing in the Sewer

**WARNING: I know some people dislike Colress. However...we disagree!**

**Also, beware of spoilers.**

The three made it to Castelia City safe and sound, but it was getting late by the time Roxie's dad docked the ship. Rosa thought about calling her own father, but decided against it. It wouldn't be fair to Nate, she thought, that she had a nice parent in town to lead her in the right direction while he obviously didn't. Besides, she knew her dad worked late a lot, and having her stop by for directions wouldn't go over well with his boss.

So, she and the boys found themselves in the hotel part of the Pokémon Center, each with a very small room to themselves. Rosa cuddled with Azurill as she slept, keeping Greg and Mareep in their balls. Azurill was the least likely to cause injuries, and having her warm, tiny body close by was comforting. The Pokémon herself didn't seem to mind...until Rosa started to dream.

It was a very strange dream. She was wearing the Riolu Girl costume from her movie with Brycen, while Nate, who had somehow gotten his head fused with his camera, videotaped her fighting a giant monster that looked like it came from a Clow Card. And then, just as the monster was about to finish off Riolu Girl and her camera-headed sidekick...

Rosa was woken by a Water Gun to the face. Azurill, satisfied that her trainer wouldn't be moving all over the bed anymore, went back to sleep, fortunately on top of the damp spot her attack had left on the bed.

"Good night to you, too," Rosa grumbled, flipping onto her other side. She slept much more peacefully that time, instead dreaming of her friends and a lollipop tree.

* * *

Hugh took off early the next morning, but Rosa met Nate down in the lobby. He was getting Toby checked out - apparently, the Tepig had hit his head on the door in his eagerness to get out of the room. But, once Toby had been declared healthy and ready for any battle he might find himself in, the pair set out to find and challenge the Castelia City Gym.

It wasn't exactly the easiest thing done. By the time they'd found it, Rosa was wishing she'd never left home. And then, of course, there was the news that greeted them when they got there.

"I'm sorry, but the Gym Leader isn't here."

Rosa stared. The man stared back. This could not be happening to her, not today... "Did you say he was gone?"

"Did you not hear me? Burgh is a very busy man these days. He's been desperate for new inspiration for his art, not to mention the rumors of Team Plasma's return..."

"I can take it from here," a new voice called out, and Rosa squeaked as a young girl bounced down the street. She was a pretty thing, with dark skin and huge purple hair. She couldn't have been older than fourteen, and even that was pushing it. The girl smiled, extending a hand. "You're looking for the Gym Leader, right? I can help you find him. I'm Iris."

Rosa studied the new girl carefully, as if feeling threatened by her mere presence, but Nate took the offered handshake.

"I'm Nate, and this is Rosa. Why are you here?"

Iris's caramel skin turned a shade darker, and it took her a few seconds to get put together an answer. "I'm here to help clueless teenagers find the Gym Leader," she told them, her eyes shining with youthful innocence. "It won't be too hard, actually. If I know Burgh, he's probably goofing off somewhere, or searching for inspiration."

Rosa thought that searching for inspiration was a decent excuse for Burgh not being at his Gym, and could even understand goofing off. But before she could say that waiting was an option, Iris spoke again.

"Come on, guys! I think he might be off at one of the piers!"

* * *

There was no doubt in either Nate or Rosa's minds: Iris was useless. There was no one she seemed to recognize at any of the piers, though one of them did have a path that she swore wasn't there two years ago. How...suspicious.

"I'll meet you guys back at the Gym," Rosa chirped, faking cheerfulness as she attempted to run for her life. "Have fun down in the dark scary hole!"

Nate knew her too well, however. "And what if Burgh's down there?" he demanded, and his friend ceased her attempts. "Come on, I'll go first. Just like I promised back in Aspertia City. And then Iris could follow -"

The sound of a tranceiver ringing cut them off, and Iris made a face as she read the text message.

"Sorry, I can't - one of my Pokémon ate a whole pan of brownies and threw up all over Drayden's floor. Let me know how it goes!" she called, and rushed away, her enormous hair bouncing along behind her.

Nate stared after her, confusion in his eyes. "Did she just say _Drayden_?" he asked as she disappeared from view. "As in Drayden, the Opelucid City Gym Leader?"

"We'll deal with him eventually," Rosa said, tugging on his hand to pull him away. "We were heading back to the Pokémon Center to kill time until Burgh got back. Remember?"

Nate pulled his hand from her grip. "I think not. If I recall, we were headed into a dark hole."

Rosa flinched. "I was hoping you forgot that part."

* * *

"Well, this has Team Plasma written all over it."

Nate rolled his eyes as his friend tried to make jokes about a place that was clearly scaring her. "Really? I couldn't tell," he said sarcastically, in no mood to play along - he could see the Team Plasma graffiti even in the dim light of the dungeon. The sewer, actually. "I thought it had something to do with aliens."

Rosa puffed out her cheeks like an angry Patrat, but the arrival of Hugh shut her up.

"I knew it," he growled, barely paying attention to them at all. "Hiding out in the sewer like the rats they are." He pulled something out of his bag and handed it to Rosa. Her eyes lit up as she realized it was a cherry lollipop - her favorite flavor. "Here. Get your courage up."

"But how are we going to find them?" Rosa asked, looking from one boy to the other. "They could be anywhere in this stupid sewer."

"So we search," Hugh said, as if it should have been obvious. "Come on, Rosa. It's us and the walking palm tree against however many Plasma goons are here."

Nate ignored him, sending out Magnemite to light the way with a spark of electricity. "All right. Follow me, Rosa and Qwilfish-Boy."

"Don't call me a Qwilfish!"

"Roxie could," Rosa said around her lollipop, and Hugh made a face.

"That's different. She's a Gym Leader. They're entitled to call me whatever they want, as long as I get the badge from them. Now hurry up and help us find Team Plasma, will you?"

Nate grumbled something insulting, but followed Magnemite and Hugh down the path.

Until, of course, their path was cut off by a pair of Team Plasma grunts. Rosa and Hugh took them down easily, though, and shortly after encountered a man with bright clothes and a _lot_ of bouncy brown hair. His pants deserved special mention: bright, striped, and hypnotizing, Rosa wondered who had been the idiot to design them...and then she realized that the man in question was very likely the culprit.

The look on this man's face when he spotted the kids was almost funny, until Rosa remembered that they were in a sewer. Of course the man wasn't expecting them.

Hugh nearly attacked him right there. "Where is Team Plasma?" he demanded, and the man looked around.

"No idea," he said, spotting the graffiti. "I'm sure they were here, though. But not anymore."

Hugh rolled his eyes, but let the man go. "All right. I'm going to search. You guys can go."

"I think we should stay, too," Nate said, ignoring Rosa's half-formed objection. "They might be hiding. They do dress up as ninjas."

The man looked down at Rosa, concerned. "So the rumors are true? Has Team Plasma returned?"

"Returned and are stalking us," she grumbled. "Are you sure there aren't any giant Feraligatr living in this sewer? I mean, maybe Team Plasma got eaten after they marked their territory..."

"There are no Feraligatr," the man reassured her. "However, the threat of Team Plasma is very real and very strong. You'll forgive me if I don't leave you alone just yet, won't you?"

"No," Rosa grumped, but the man paid no attention.

Hugh had gone, but Nate remained. "So, are we going or not?"

Rosa looked up hopefully. "Going out of the sewer, you mean?"

"Going to get you more courage," Nate corrected, and led her and the strange man(who was apparently Burgh, the Gym Leader) to a hidden entrance to a cave.

Where someone already waited.

* * *

The other man was tall with scary shiny glasses, but that wasn't why Rosa was initially intimidated. No, the thing that scared her most, and fascinated her companions, was the swirl of blue that looped around the man's head. The rest of him was so pale, his blond hair looked almost white in the dark, proven otherwise by the white lab coat he was wearing.

He seemed startled to see them, too, though perhaps it was because Rosa had screamed "Sewer king!" so loudly that the walls echoed her cry, and had likely distracted him from whatever he was thinking about.

"Is she all right?" the blond man asked Nate, who made a face as Rosa tried to hide behind him.

"Physically," Nate finally answered, giving up on trying to pull Rosa off of him. "Not sure otherwise. Rosa's a bit of a coward, in case you couldn't tell."

The strange man shook his head, the blue hair whooshie seeming to glow in the sewer's dim light, before adding, "If she'll understand, tell her I am not a sewer king. She seems to have great potential, and it would be a shame to waste it by being too scared to use it."

"But your hair isn't going to eat us, is it?" Rosa squeaked, and the man fought back a crack at her own insane hairstyle in order to promise her that his hair was vegetarian.

His sense of humor aside, though, Rosa still didn't trust him. What did he mean by 'potential?' Sure, she was good at Pokémon battles, but he hadn't even seen her in action. Had he?

"Come on, Nate," she said, tugging him along. "Time for the Gym."

"All right, but be prepared to face a Sewaddle."

Rosa went very pale, and both adults pretended they weren't listening to the conversation. "A...Sewaddle?" she squeaked, and turned and bolted, dragging Nate behind her. Burgh followed behind, apparently finding great amusement in the girl's antics, muttering something to himself about a challenger Castelia's Gym had gotten two years ago.

"Then again," he added to Nate, "it was highly unlikely that she was afraid of Sewaddles. You're actually the one who reminds me of her, Nate: the sane one in a pair of clueless children getting involved with Team Plasma. Rosa, here..." he held up his hands in frustration, and was silent until he left the pair just outside of the Gym, suddenly remembering he had something important to do.

Meanwhile, down in the sewer, the man in the white lab coat glanced at the nearest piece of Team Plasma's 'artwork,' mentally scolding them for taking such obvious creative outlets. How was he supposed to avoid drawing attention to himself if they insisted on 'decorating' their hideouts? Not that he'd wanted to work in a sewer in the first place, but the point was still there.

A young man with a white wig and a ninja costume appeared from nowhere, a can of spray paint in his hand. "Did I do ok, Colress?"

Colress facepalmed. He should have known that _they_ were behind this. "Didn't I tell you to go check for man-eating Feraligatr?"

"There weren't any. So I made art instead."

Colress was sure that behind the mask, the ninja was grinning like a maniac. He was also sure that if they didn't get to a place where there were witnesses, soon, he would do his best to murder the ninja, which would probably go on to be his fourth greatest regret. So, he thought of science to calm himself, and gave new orders.

"Tell your boss," he said, as the ninja's brothers appeared to assist, "that teenagers are collecting Gym badges again. He did say he wanted to know these things, after all."

"Names?" one of the ninjas asked, and Colress knew the voice belonged to the most serious of the three.

"Nate and Rosa. The boy doesn't seem to do much, but the girl has great potential."

"Potential for what?"

Colress smirked. "A confidential experiment I am conducting. Certainly nothing any of you would care about."

"Ghetsis might not like this," the third ninja warned, and the man shrugged.

"Since when have I cared about Ghetsis? The most he could do is kill me, at which point I will be free to stop working with you three."

"You're on our side," the second ninja reminded him.

"By convenience alone, I assure you." After a few moments of awkward silence, Colress dug around in the pockets of his lab coat and pulled out a lollipop. "Now, you want this, don't you?" he taunted, waving it in their faces. Each of them stared at the candy as if hypnotized. "Well, then. First one out of the sewer gets it."


	10. Artists, Insanity and Disney Parodies

**If you read our previous story and did not see this coming, I am very disappointed in you.**

**Anyway, I wrote for Ghetsis and the Shadow Triad, she wrote the rest of the scene. I may not have changed the words as much as I should have, but together, we managed to do a halfway decent parody of "My Lullaby" from The Lion King 2.**

When Nate and Rosa returned to the Gym, two hours later, Burgh was still nowhere in sight. According to the guard blocking the door, he _had _been there, just long enough to tell the man to keep all challengers away until he'd returned, and then taken off again.

"Should we search the sewer again?" Nate asked, but the man shook his head.

"No, he was heading up to Nimbasa City for something...he and Elesa are good friends, and he wanted to warn her in person about Team Plasma's return."

"And when will he be back?" Rosa asked, and the man shrugged.

"He'll be back as soon as he can. He knows there are challengers waiting."

"And how soon can he get here?"

The man didn't answer. Nate cleared his throat and stepped up to Rosa.

"So, while we're waiting for Burgh to come back, how about we explore the city? We can stop for lunch..."

The thought of food distracted Rosa from her anger at the missing Gym Leader, and she bounced up and down in glee as she realized how hungry she actually was. Her hair bounced as well, especially the long trails hanging from the donuts. "Come on, then," she cheered, and took off down the busy street alone. It wasn't long, though, before she realized just what she had done, and called Nate over so she wouldn't have to be alone.

* * *

It was only twenty-four hours later, however, that they saw any change. They'd met up with Rosa's father, who had, after congratulating his daughter on a job well done and teasing her about the boy, bought both of them Casteliacones before he left for work. They'd explored the other piers of Castelia, and several buildings as well.

"Hey, look!" Nate laughed, pointing into a window. "It's you, Rosa."

Rosa glanced at the donuts he was pointing at, realizing as she did so that it was the window of a bakery, then turned a glare on him. "Great joke," she said sarcastically, before turning and storming away.

"Ahhh! I forgot!" Someone yelled as he ran past Nate and Rosa. Nate initially thought it was the Eighth Doctor (after all, the hair was exactly the same) but it was only Burgh. He was apparently in such a rush that he'd forgotten to put on pants, and was rushing down the street in Joltik-print boxers. Rosa covered her eyes, but Nate was laughing too hard to point it out to him.

Rosa peeked through her fingers and looked into the nervous Gym Leader's eyes. "What happened?"

Burgh opened the door to the Gym, gesturing to the children to follow him. "It's a long and complicated story, but we should head inside first. Come on, children, let's go. It's chilly, and I just realized I'm not wearing any pants."

* * *

"Colress! Report to the boss's headquarters immediately!"

The blond scientist growled softly, and turned to face the Shadow Triad member sitting in the corner of the room. Said ninja was holding a megaphone to his mouth, or at least what Colress assumed was his mouth. "That will be all," the white-haired man added into the megaphone.

Colress briefly considered mutiny. But, with a sigh, he followed the ninja from the room, where Zinzolin waited...with the man who had hired them.

Ghetsis had changed in the past two years. He no longer wore the castle robe, possibly because he knew Colress would never take him seriously if he did, and he had taken to using a cane on some days. He'd actually hired Colress in the first place to make him a new, scientific one...

"I see you made it," he said, turning to face them. He didn't look happy, but then, he rarely did. His one red eye locked onto the scientist. "The Shadow Triad have given me your message, Colress. Why did you not stop the children collecting the badges?"

Colress shrugged and took a seat next to Zinzolin at the improvised staff table. "I didn't see it as necessary. Kids collect badges all the time, it's practically a rite of passage. Why should Nate and Rosa be more important than the others?"

"But they said that the boy and girl were traveling together. And that you told them she had potential."

"Your point?"

Ghetsis tried to remind himself that he was dealing with a man who hadn't been here two years ago, and focused on explaining. "You are aware, I take it, of Team Plasma's previous failure?"

"You've ranted about it several times," Colress agreed, as Zinzolin coughed to hide his laughter. "Didn't it involve your son?"

"That _creature _is not my son," Ghetsis snarled. "He was a tool, a tool with only one job...and he failed at even that. A boy and a girl defeated me then. I can not let it happen again."

The Shadow Triad took that as their cue to begin playing music, a dark melody that Colress knew from childhood but couldn't quite place. He was both amused and concerned, and he turned to Zinzolin uncertainly.

"He's not going to sing, is he?"

Zinzolin frowned, as if irritated by the question. Apparently, the answer was yes.

_"I was told when I was just a boy  
__To let my dreams take wing  
__So I found a boy to call my own...  
__And I made him a king!"_

He wasn't actually a bad singer. Who would have thought? Colress's concern faded as amusement took over, and he felt the corners of his mouth twitching upward. This was going to be good.

_"But then he turned against me  
__Left me alone with no defense.  
__When I think of what those brats did  
__I get a little tense._

_"But now I have a new dream  
__One to put them all to rest  
__And now I can't stop singing  
__Now I'm not so depressed."_

Really, this was hilarious.

_"That stupid Samurott's dying gasp...  
__The whole world lying in my grasp...  
__The big white dragon's pain-filled cry...  
__That's my lullaby!_

_"Now to put my plan in action  
__I need to find Kyurem.  
__Because there are new heroes here  
__And I don't want them to live."_

One of the Shadow Triad decided that he was going to join in. _"But what if Rosa finds a way to beat you easily?"_

Ghetsis smirked, undisturbed by the interruption. _"The girl may be good in battle, but she's still no match for me!_

_"The melody of Kyurem's growls...  
__The new girl dead upon the ground...  
__Her friend as he's about to die...  
__That's my lullaby!"_

The music slowed down dramatically, taking the rest of Colress's willpower with it. Luckily, Ghetsis was too absorbed in his song to care about the scientist, though the younger man was visibly shaking with silent laughter.

_"N is gone, but Daddy's still around!  
__Though to fulfill our plans  
__We need to find some criminals  
__Who are proud of being bad!"_

The second, most serious Shadow rolled his eyes as the music picked back up. _"Well, now we know he's crazy. Wait, why did I start to sing?"_

The third Shadow was happy to join in on his brothers' insanity. _"When all of Unova falls down..."_

_"I will rise as king!"_ Ghetsis finished maniacally, and Zinzolin facepalmed as the song continued.

_"The pounding of the drums of war...  
__The sound of Kyurem's mighty roar..."_

_"The joy of vengeance?"_ Colress added happily, placing the tune at long last. He was enjoying this far too much, as Zinzolin's glare told him.

_"Will be mine!"_ Ghetsis cackled. _"I can hear the cheering..."_

_"He does this all the time,"_ Zinzolin whined, not seeming to realize that he'd been sucked into it, too.

Ghetsis paid no attention.

_"My takeover is nearing...  
__To my opponents, say goodbye!  
__Their screams will pierce the sky!  
__That's my lullaby!"_

Well, all right, the last part was kind of disturbing, but no one seemed to care at the moment. Zinzolin merely shook his head and left the room in search of hot tea, leaving behind five figures in various fits of laughter: one maniacally, three somewhat evilly, and one so hard he could barely breathe.

* * *

"...and that's how I ended up selling my pants on Ebay," Burgh finished, leaving Nate and Rosa highly confused. While he had put on his 'emergency backup pants,' he'd still spent most of his time talking to the new kids. Neither of them really knew what to make of the story, and Nate had pretty much tuned him out before he began.

"While I agree that the story was long and complicated," Rosa said, staring at the man, "only the first part of it answered my question."

"And what question was that?"

"Where you were!" Rosa wailed, leaving Burgh stunned.

"Oh. Well, your question was answered, wasn't it?"

"But why didn't you just answer the question and move on?"

"Don't question my bad decisions!" Burgh seemed a little too defensive, but he quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, I believe I promised you a gym battle, didn't I?"

He led them to the battlefield, which had turned rainbow with spilled paint. He didn't seem to care much, and pulled out a ball. "Are you ready, Rosa? I choose Swadloon!"

Rosa felt herself shiver, but she knew that the sooner she got that final badge, the sooner she and Nate could go home. So, gathering her courage, she plucked a Pokeball of her own.

"All right, Greg! Let's do it!"

The Pignite, much more fearless than his trainer, stood on his side of the field. The battle began immediately.

"Use Flame Charge!" Rosa commanded, and Burgh called for Protect just in time. However, Protect rarely worked twice in a row, and another Flame Charge left Swadloon unable to battle.

Burgh apparently knew it would be a disaster, but he didn't give up. He was a Bug-type master. Surely he had something...

Rosa made a face as her next opponent was revealed to be a Dwebble. Nothing too scary, except for the huge eyes sticking straight up out of its head. She pulled her focus back to the battle. "Greg, try using Arm Thrust!"

Dwebble jumped to the side, and at its trainer's command pulled off a Smack Down. It wasn't anything too difficult, and a few attacks later, Dwebble fell, too.

"One more to go," Rosa said, looking up at Nate. Seeing the flashing red light on his camera, she took a calming breath before facing Burgh once more, hoping that he wouldn't use a Sewaddle.

He didn't, but it was close enough. "You're my last hope, Leavanny!" he called, throwing out another ball.

Rosa squeaked. She'd never seen a real Leavanny before, only pictures. A sudden cold washed over her, as if all her blood had turned to ice in her veins, and then -

"Leavanny, use String Shot!"

Greg made a frantic sound, bringing his master back to reality as he struggled to free himself from the webbing, and then came the Struggle Bug attack.

"All right," Rosa said, to herself more than her Pokémon, "we still have the double type advantage. Ember until that thing comes down!" she ordered, and a flash of fire accompanied the command.

In the audience, Toby and Riolu did a little victory dance, nearly knocking their Trainer's camera from his hand. Nate glared at them both.

"Watch it, guys," he warned. "Why don't you play with Magnemite on the other side of the field?"

But Leavanny fell at that second, earning Rosa the Insect Badge and permission to continue her journey.

"Any suggestions where we can go next?" she asked Burgh, pushing aside the weirdness of the story and everything else that was unusual about this man.

"Nimbasa City is only a desert away," he replied, thinking it over. "The Gym Leader there has a fashion show, and you two can go in my place..."

"You know Elesa?" Nate gasped, staring. "Dude, why didn't you tell us?"

Burgh gave the boy a questioning look. "Did you not pay any attention to my story at all?"

Nate smirked. "Pretty much."

"She was the reason I was away from my gym after the sewer incident!" Burgh said, shortening the ridiculous adventure he had given Rosa in detail.

Nate shut off his camera and put it in his bag, digging around and pulling out a magazine. "This Elesa?" he asked, shoving the magazine into Burgh's face.

Burgh pushed it away far enough so he could see, then handed it back to Nate. "The very same," he agreed.

Rosa shook her head, giving the Bug master a smile. "Don't worry, Burgh. I'll fill him in on the way."

* * *

After healing up at the Pokémon Center, the two decided to have a practice battle in the central park. Just a short thing, two on two: Mareep against Toby, Azurill against Riolu. After all, it was good to let Nate's assistants get experience.

But just as they reached the clearing, they saw a strange person. Tall, blond, with a bright blue hair whooshie and a lab coat.

"Nate," Rosa whispered, tugging on her friend's sleeve. "It's the sewer king!"


	11. The Madness of Professor Whooshie

**Rosa vs. the Sewer King. Place your bets.**

The battle was postponed, of course.

The man, the so-called sewer king, hadn't spotted them yet. He was playing on a device, and it seemed as if he was too distracted to look up. But as the two attempted to sneak past him, he looked, and he saw the two familiar heads of ridiculous hair.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon," he said, switching off the device. "But now that I have, could I ask you a favor?"

His bright yellow eyes seemed intently focused on Rosa, and Nate felt just a little upset. This guy was way too old for his friend.

Rosa looked away from the stare, turning her head to the side. "What kind of favor?"

"Nothing illegal," the man promised. "I can promise you that. I am just a scientist, and I would like to see your Pokémon."

"Don't do it, Rosa," Nate warned, and she managed to look back at the blond man for a brief second before speaking again.

"No."

"But this is for science!" the man protested, and Rosa snorted.

"_Double _no."

He paused, considering, and then seemed to be struck with an idea. "I'll give you a lollipop," he offered, as if he knew that that was one sure way to get Rosa to cooperate. There was no way he could have known that...

Rosa grinned. "Ok!"

"What?" Nate gasped as Rosa let out her Mareep, accepting the lollipop the man had pulled from the pocket of his lab coat in return. "Rosa, didn't your mom ever tell you about stranger danger? Don't you know he could have poisoned that thing? Don't you realize this is _ridiculously out of character?_"

Neither of the other humans paid any attention to him. The man reached down, giving Mareep a gentle smile and holding out a hand as if to pet her.

"You don't have to be afraid, Mareep," he said, and the electric sheep glared at him. "My name is Colress. I just want to examine you from a safe and reasonable distance..."

Mareep's response was to unleash her most powerful Thundershock on Colress, knocking him over before she hid behind her trainer. Colress, mostly unhurt, simply smoothed the blue hair whooshie back into its proper place, adjusted his glasses, and picked up his weird device.

"Your Mareep is very well prepared for later fights," he said, as Mareep growled at him again. "Fairly powerful, for its species and level..."

"Her," Rosa said, reaching down to calm her irritated critter. "My Mareep is a girl."

"_Her_ species and level, then," Colress corrected himself. "Would she mind, I wonder, if I asked you for a battle? It's beneficial for both of us - my research and your training."

"Will I get another lollipop?"

"No."

Rosa shrugged. The man didn't scare her as much, when they weren't in a sewer anymore. "I guess a battle won't hurt, if it'll help my training. I can't rely entirely on Greg, after all." As Mareep whimpered, Rosa gave her a smile. "Don't worry, it's just for science. I probably won't even need you."

As Colress walked away and Nate scolded Rosa about taking candy from strangers, Mareep thought ahead to the upcoming battle.

_I've got a bad feeling about this,_ she thought, and shuddered as she imagined what other kinds of science the weird man was doing.

* * *

The two agreed that Colress could wait a bit longer, and had their training battles first. Both Toby and Riolu won, and the two returned to the Pokémon Center to heal them for later and allow Nate to celebrate his victories. Even Magnemite joined in, apparently having fun.

Rosa stopped enjoying herself, however, when Nate began talking about how to raise Pokémon without actually making them stay long in battle. What, did he think she didn't know all of this?

"I heard that Pokémon can gain battle experience even if they're only in battle for a short time," he was saying, taking a seat at the waiting table. "You know, sending one out and switching. Greg can do the actual fighting until Mareep and Azurill can fend for themselves."

Rosa only pretended to listen for a short time, and then held up a hand to stop her male counterpart from talking. "Nate. No offense, but you should probably stop talking right now. I have a weird scientist waiting on me, you know."

And as she got up to leave, Nate made a face. "That's kind of what I was afraid of."

Toby and Riolu made quiet noises of agreement. Magnemite buzzed and attempted to follow Rosa out the door, but rammed right into it instead.

* * *

Route 4 was boring, still little more than sand even after the development took place last year. At least there wasn't a sandstorm anymore. At least, not constantly.

While Rosa whined, however, Nate found something better to do. A small creature was scuttling along the path, a large, cracked rock on its back. Rosa barely paid it any attention, but Nate jumped at the chance.

"A Dwebble!" he cheered, grabbing his camera and releasing Riolu. "Riolu, I'm going to follow that Dwebble," he told the Pokémon, who stared up at him with big, slightly concerned eyes. "You take the camera and film Rosa's battle with Colress."

Riolu began to protest that he did not know how to use Nate's camera, but Greg, who had watched Rosa play with it and had figured out how to turn it on and hit record, pointed out the buttons and showed off like a good big brother, explaining in Pignite-speak. Nate, satisfied, ordered Rosa to think before she accepted any more lollipops from Colress and headed off, hoping Magnemite would be able to follow Mareep's electricity and lead them right to the battle.

The Dwebble was fixing the rock it called home, mending any cracks the thing may have had. Nate pulled a tiny notebook and pencil from his pocket, making a quick sketch of it. He was a better artist than he gave himself credit for, but the Dwebble moved too fast for him to do much. He sat, hidden behind a rock, for about ten minutes before Toby called his attention.

The Dwebble, satisfied with its work, picked up the rock to move again, but found Magnemite standing in the way. Nate facepalmed.

"Magnemite, the Dwebble has the field advantage -" he protested, but the Dwebble had already attacked. Magnemite retaliated with Sonicboom, ignoring its trainer's wishes.

Or perhaps it was a case of 'Dwebble started it' instead of simple disobedience, as Magnemite turned away from battle the moment it struck. Dwebble had been flipped onto its back, and was waving all of its legs around as it tried to flip itself up. Nate rolled his eyes.

"Magnemite, apologize." A defiant buzz. "Magnemite, either you apologize to the Dwebble, or I'm catching it and bringing it along with us...and leaving _you _to take care of it."

Magnemite stared at Nate, judging his seriousness, before turning from side to side, as if shaking its head.

"Stubborn brat," Nate grumbled, but he dug around in his bag and pulled out a Poke-strudel. He held it in front of the Dwebble's eyes, and the creature immediately stopped its struggling. It was kind of like Rosa with candy. "Do you want this?" Nate asked, waving it again. The Dwebble reached for it, and gobbled it up once Nate had handed it over. Nate grabbed an empty ball next. "And do you want to come with me? I'll teach Magnemite to behave..."

The Dwebble managed to flip itself upright again, and saluted Nate. Or, it tried to salute Nate, and ended up hitting itself in the eye with the blunt side of its pincer.

Nate rolled his eyes. "We'll work on that, too."

* * *

Meanwhile, across the desert, Rosa, Greg and Riolu managed to find Colress, standing by a bunch of rocks in the middle of the road. He smiled, the picture of innocence, his hair whooshie circling his head like a deformed halo. And then he noticed that Nate wasn't there.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Colress asked, checking over his shoulder to be sure Nate wasn't going to attack him from behind. "Shouldn't he be with you?"

"He's not my boyfriend, and he happens to be chasing a Dwebble at the moment," Rosa explained, and Colress seemed amused.

"He's wasting his time then," Colress declared. "I have something better than a Dwebble." He pointed at the rocks behind him.

"You have rocks?" Rosa asked skeptically, and the scientist held up a hand to stop her.

"Patience, Rosa. You'd think they were rocks, but it turns out that they are nothing of the kind. I tried kicking them, but it didn't work," Colress added, almost as an afterthought. "So, perhaps this will do it." He took out a device and pointed it at the rocks. He pushed a button on it, and, releasing waves of energy that even Greg and Riolu felt, the rocks sprouted legs and pincers and scurried away, as Crustle.

Rosa raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, Colress. Maybe that Dwebble is more exciting."

Colress chuckled. This girl was a fascinating subject, and could very well be the perfect piece in his latest experiment. Perhaps, if he played his cards right...

But he was getting too far ahead. "I don't suppose you could comprehend the particularly science-y parts, could you?" Rosa shook her head. "It's actually an interesting process. Dumbing it down for you, I simply gave them a bit more energy, as my search for the truth behind a Pokémon's powers led me to believe..." He caught her disbelieving look, and cleared his throat. "Too much?"

"A bit." Rosa frowned. "Is that what you're researching? The power of Pokémon? Professor Juniper and all the other professors I know of say it's friendship that brings out their inner strength."

"I have heard that, yes," he admitted. "But, while I respect Professor Juniper, perhaps she has not thought of all the possibilities. You see, two years ago, Team Plasma said that we should bring out the true potential in Pokémon, and liberate them from humankind. However, I disagree."

"So why are you studying this in the first place?"

Colress's cheerful smile faltered a bit. "All in time, Rosa," he said, forcing it back into place. "Now I believe I promised you a battle."

Right. That's why she followed him here, before he distracted her with science and stuff. "I chose you, Greg," Rosa called, summoning her Pignite to the improvised battlefield. Riolu quickly turned on his trainer's camera.

"I choose Magnemite!" Colress cried, throwing out a ball and releasing the creature.

The first move was Rosa's, and she gave a the command of an Ember attack. The Magnemite was very weakened but could still fight, and released a Thundershock at Colress's order. Greg finished it of with another Ember, and Magnemite was down.

Colress didn't flinch, and instead seemed to be thrilled with Greg's raw power. His next choice was a Klink, a slightly creepy-looking thing that Rosa would have been scared of, if Riolu hadn't shaken his head to tell her that it wasn't important. Rosa called Greg back and switched in Azurill, but with a long Gear Grind the blue mouse proved she was utterly useless.

But that didn't matter. Greg was back out on the field, and with a Flame Charge, the round was Rosa's.

Rosa didn't really know Colress that well, but he was certainly a graceful loser. "Fantastic," he breathed, recalling his Klink and admitting defeat. "You and your Pignite were absolutely fantastic."

Rosa was about to say something, when she heard something in the distance. It was Nate, Toby safely in his ball and Magnemite out in the open. He was waving something shiny above his head, but at this distance, all Rosa could see was his outline and the reflection of the bright sun off the object. In truth, he looked more like a palm tree than ever.

When he got close enough, both Rosa and Colress could tell it was a Pokeball. Nate held it out proudly. "I caught it!" Nate said excited voice. "I caught the Dwebble! Did I miss your battle?"

"Yes."

"Darn it!" Nate shouted angrily, all his excitement forgotten. "Riolu got it, though, right?" His Pokémon yipped happily. "Good boy."

"I hope to see you again," Colress said as he walked away, bringing Nate's attention back to the present. "Though perhaps I can battle _him_ next."

Nate shook his head as he and Rosa watched him leave. "There's something weird about that guy," he stated, as the lab coat disappeared into the distance. "I don't like this, Rosa."

"Oh, come on!" Rosa huffed. "Colress is weird, I'll give you that, but he can't be pure evil or anything." She smiled. "He gives me candy."


	12. Elesa, Rosa and the Dropped Item

**In which Curtis makes his first, and possibly only, appearance.**

**Also, three battle chapters in a row? That's weird.**

The rest of the journey to Nimbasa City was uneventful, except for a half-hour break in a place called Join Avenue. The man in charge had believed Rosa, of all people, would be capable of managing a row of small markets, and nothing either of our heroes did could convince him otherwise. After giving him instructions to call her Empress, because "Evil Empress of Join Avenue" wouldn't fit on the office door, and giving a small child a position in the market, she and Nate abandoned the avenue and never looked back.

With that little adventure behind them, the pair moved on to Nimbasa City. There was so much to do in a city this big...but first things first. The fashion show, and hopefully the next Gym battle.

"Where could it be?" Nate asked, glancing around. There weren't even any signs. "You'd think it would be difficult to hide a Gym."

"Maybe we can try something else," Rosa suggested. "Just to kill time until the Gym opens again."

"But Rosa!" the boy whined. "It's _the _Elesa! The legend of the fashion world, and one of the toughest Gym Leaders, too! I've been dying to meet her for years!"

Rosa giggled like a small child. "You have _no idea_ how much you sounded like a girl just then."

Nate pulled off his visor and swatted her with it, and she just laughed harder. "All right, I give up." She took a deep, calming breath, and made a request. "Could I borrow your Magnemite for the battle? And possibly Toby, just in case."

"But they're not strong enough for a Gym battle yet!"

"Trust me. I'll take them over to that Lostlorn Forest place to train. Maybe you can raise Mareep and Azurill, too - trade bonus and all that."

"But a Zoroark used to live in Lostlorn Forest," Nate said simply. "Haven't you heard the legend? It only moved out a couple years ago."

Rosa shuddered and gave her friend a nervous smile. "Well...maybe it'll be easier on Route 5, anyway. Come on, there has to be some Gothita and Solosis running around up here."

* * *

After training to the point of Toby's evolution(and having to adjust the bow tie to fit around his much thicker neck) Rosa felt confident enough to try to challenge _the _Elesa, legend of the fashion world and powerful Gym Leader. However, when she first entered the amusement park where the Gym/fashion show was, things started to get much, much more interesting.

Or not, depending on your point of view.

"Who would lose a tranceiver?" Rosa asked, holding out the device. "These things can get expensive."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Rosa, you call your mom _and _Cheren every night before you go to bed. I think you're precisely the kind of person who would lose her communication device." At her glare, he held up his hands in self-defense. "I'm just saying you talk too much, that's all."

"The man gave me my first loss," Rosa huffed, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm only getting revenge."

"Gym Leaders need sleep, Rosa."

"And I let him sleep. When I'm done asking pointless questions."

The sudden ringing startled both of them, and Rosa, quick to notice it was the dropped tranceiver, answered it before she could stop herself. "Hello?"

"Oh! You've found it!" It was a boy speaking, and from the sound of his voice, he seemed to be about her age. "Where was it?"

"I take it the thing is yours, then?"

"Yeah. Where was it?" he repeated, and Rosa frowned. There was something familiar about his voice, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"You left it in Nimbasa City. Why can't I see you?"

"Oh...I'm using an old model. They don't have video."

"And who are you?" Rosa interrupted. "I'm sorry, but you sound kind of familiar."

"My name is, uh, Curtis?" That was weird. Why was the name a question? Shouldn't Curtis know what he's supposed to be called? "Anyway, I have a job, and it's difficult for me to get away long enough to find it. Could you hang on to it for a while?"

"I was going to put it in the lost and found, actually. I'm on a trainer journey, and I want to get my next badge soon."

"And what if I never make it back to Nimbasa?" Curtis challenged. "Seriously. Just...just hold on to it. I promise I'll take it back, even if it takes a few months."

Rosa sighed. "Fine. But if I lose it or break it, it's your fault."

She could hear the smile in Curtis's voice as he thanked her, and then he hung up.

"Well, Curtis is going to have a heck of a time finding us," Rosa stated, putting the lost item in her bag's hidden pouch to keep it safe. But, with a shrug, she turned to face her friend. "Ready to meet Elesa, loverboy?"

The irritation at Curtis fading, Nate jumped up in excitement and dug out his camera. "Ready to watch us work, Dwebble?"

His new Pokémon smacked itself in the eye with its pincer again. Nate smiled.

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

The other trainers in Elesa's Gym were all beautiful supermodels, but none of them could compare to the Leader herself. Nate had been right. Elesa was too pretty for words. And nice, too, if the bright smile she gave her challenger wasn't just for show. Rosa felt much more at ease in her presence, and Elesa seemed thrilled at the sight of the heroes.

"Welcome to my stage," she said, brushing a long, lightning bolt-shaped thing of hair over her shoulder. "Burgh told me quite a bit about you, and it's getting me excited. My Pokémon and yours, shining brightly in battle..." she paused, as Rosa immediately noticed why she and Burgh must have been such good friends. They both had a tendency to go on about stuff. "Sorry if I'm boring you when you want a battle. I shouldn't have gotten so carried away. I assume you want to get stronger if you're going to take on Team Plasma?"

Rosa gasped. "T-take on Team Plasma?" she squeaked, looking at Nate for support. He was no help, for he seemed just as confused as she was. "No! I don't want to stop an evil organization! I'll leave that to the police. I just want to get the badges and go home."

Elesa blinked. "But Burgh told me that there was a new pair of heroes here," she explained, "since the twins from two years ago aren't here anymore."

Nate gave her a pointed look. "And you listened to _Burgh,_ of all people? You seem like an intelligent woman, so don't be offended when I say...why?"

Elesa blushed. "Don't question my bad decisions," she mumbled, before clearing her throat and beginning the match. She reached for a ball. "Go, Emolga!"

Rosa adjusted her visor and reached for a ball herself, slightly surprised at what she got but not about to change. "Come on out, Magnemite!"

Elesa made the first move. "Emolga, Volt Switch!"

All right, so she'd be using a Flaaffy instead of the Emolga. Not much of a problem. "Sonicboom!" Rosa ordered, and the Flaaffy took the hit. Magnemite cheered and did a little spinning routine. Nate promised himself he'd work on its gloating soon enough.

Elesa didn't seem worried that her little lamb got hurt. "Volt Switch!" she ordered again, and Flaaffy was suddenly replaced with Emolga once again.

"Sonicboom!" Rosa commanded again, deciding that if Elesa was going to use the same move again, so would she. Her friend's living magnet shot out a blast of energy that knocked Emolga from the air.

This was where Elesa made the fatal mistake. "Quick Attack!" she called, forgetting about the abnormally high defenses of Steel-type Pokémon.

But, hey, since she changed tactics, Rosa would, too. "Magnet Bomb!"

The attack struck Emolga, and it collapsed at Elesa's feet, having lost too much energy to continue the fight. Elesa called Emolga back to its ball, and a flash of light later, Flaaffy was back.

"All right," Elesa huffed. "Time to get serious. Flaaffy! Use Confuse Ray!"

"Avoid the ray!" Rosa begged, but the attack hit. Magnemite spun around dizzily, and there was no sign of snapping out of confusion any time soon. Rosa returned Magnemite to its ball and sent Toby out in its place.

"A Pignite, huh? It's too bad you took out my Flying-type. But it doesn't matter." Elesa struck a dramatic pose. "Flaaffy, Volt Switch!"

"What's she sending out now?" Rosa squeaked, almost afraid. Yes, Toby was proving he could take more than one Volt Switch attack, and she still had her own Pignite and her friend's one-eyed magnet, but there was something intimidating about having another Pokémon to take down when she wasn't sure how long they would last. But Zebstrika didn't seem scary. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. "Ok. Toby, focus on hitting it with Rollout!"

"Zebstrika, Volt Switch!"

"Stop using that move!" Rosa whined as Flaaffy returned. "Do you _want _to stop us from stopping Team Plasma? We'll be here forever!"

Elesa smirked. "But I thought you didn't want to stop Team Plasma. You were planning on leaving it to the police, remember?"

"And what if I changed my mind?" Rosa challenged.

"Well, then I'll gladly stop abusing Volt Switch. But only if you promise."

Rosa thought it over, coming to a decision after a full minute of deliberation. "I promise nothing! Toby, Rollout!"

* * *

Rosa emerged victorious from her battle, though she had lost Toby and substituted for Greg, and the cheering of the surrounding crowd made her remember where she was. She was on a _stage. _At a professional _fashion show. _As Elesa handed her the Bolt Badge, Rosa glanced around at the crowd, who all seemed to be cheering for her now.

"Don't you people have _lives_?" she demanded, but the crowd cheered louder than before.

Elesa cleared her throat, deciding to change the topic before this could get any worse. "Say, Rosa, have you ever considered modeling?"

Rosa blinked. "That came completely out of nowhere," she said, watching the Gym Leader suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

"I want you to walk with me. You too, Nate," she added, giving the camera boy a big smile. Rosa fought back a giggle as he snapped back to full attention, but Elesa didn't seem to notice. "After all, you two are a team. You lent her one of the Pignite, am I right?"

"And the Magnemite, actually."

"Oh, the Magnemite was yours? I'm impressed. It must really like both of you."

Magnemite made a happy sound. Elesa turned away from it and gestured for Rosa to lead the way down to the entrance.

Rosa agreed to Elesa's terms, and soon found herself walking down the catwalk with Nate and Elesa behind her. She actually enjoyed the warm spotlight. Not that she'd let anyone know that, of course.


	13. Hugh's Story

**In which you find out why Hugh is such a freak.**

**A brief warning before we continue, though: Both writers love Pokémon with uneven gender ratios, especially the minority group(excluding starters, where we don't care). Figured I'd tell you now.**

They planned to cross the Driftveil Drawbridge immediately after Rosa had healed her current team, and given Toby and Magnemite back to Nate. They planned to go and get the fifth badge soon, so that they can get to the next town by sunrise.

The plans were tossed aside immediately.

"Hold it right there, you crooks!"

The roar of rage could only belong to one person, and our heroes knew that well. Nate struggled to keep from making a face, but Rosa just laughed.

"It's been a while since I've seen Hugh," she said, dragging her friend away. "Come on, let's go see what's up."

They found him quickly, facing off with a bunch of Team Plasma grunts. Rosa sighed. She should have known.

Without even saying hello, Hugh called her forward. "Come on, Rosa," he said, pulling out a ball. "Help me fight."

"But all the Pokémon I have with me are tired from my battle with Elesa," Rosa told him, and he rolled his eyes, knowing she was winding an excuse out of true but insignificant details again. It's not like Team Plasma stood much of a chance, when she'd beaten an Oshawott with a Tepig twice.

But he still knew better than to call her on it. "Then Pineapple-head can help. I don't care."

"Nate isn't exactly a champion battler," Rosa pointed out. "Or, at least, I've never seen him in a trainer battle more than twice."

Nate, finding a chance to prove himself, prepared to battle. His Riolu and Dwebble, paired with her Mareep and Azurill...it shouldn't really be too hard to take down a few grunts. "You don't know what I can do," he stated, handing the girl his camera. "Besides, I've been training." He pulled out a ball. "You're up, Riolu!"

Hugh called on Dewott to be his partner in battle, leaving Rosa to get all this on video.

At least it would make a good movie.

* * *

"And we would have gotten away with it, too," a Plasma grunt huffed as she glared at Nate's recently-evolved Lucario, "if it weren't for you meddling kids."

And she and her friends were off, leaving the three wondering if the Scooby Doo reference was really necessary. Hugh, of course, was the first to process what was happening, and he started to chase them down. There's no telling what he would have done if Rosa hadn't managed to grab him by the arm.

"Not so fast," she said, pulling her friend to a stop. "Why are you so desperate to destroy Team Plasma, anyway?"

"I'll tell you after I catch up to them." Hugh glared at her, but she refused to let go. She may be a coward, but she knew he wouldn't hurt her. Finally, he calmed down enough to speak.

"I suppose you, of all people, deserve a proper explanation," he admitted, slumping in defeat. "I'm not sure _he_ does -"

"Yes, he does," Rosa insisted. "Nate is my partner in this journey. Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of him."

"Fine, then. Rosa, do you remember the day we met?"

"I seem to remember a blazing pain in my right eye and wearing sunglasses for a month," she stated, and Hugh flinched.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. But in my defense, you'd caught me at a pretty bad time." He shook her off before continuing his story. "You remember my little sister crying, don't you?"

"I offered her a lick of my lollipop!" Rosa protested, but Hugh shook his head.

"It had nothing to do with your lollipop. Five years ago...on that day...Team Plasma stole the Purrloin my grandpa gave her. Just twenty minutes or so later, in walks a happy little girl with a lollipop, who wasn't really paying attention to me when I tried to explain. I might have taken that as a refusal to help me get back at the thieves, and let some of my anger out on her."

"Some?"

One corner of his mouth twitched as he fought a smile. "You really haven't seen the destruction I can cause when I'm _not_ holding back. It's not the kind of thing I want little girls to see."

"I'm fifteen!" Rosa protested, and her friend rested his arm right between her hair donuts.

"You're still short, and you have a reputation for running away from things. And I'm sixteen, so I'm older, anyway." He returned to his normal serious mode, and looked back at Nate. "Now that you know, I'm counting on both of you to help me get Purrloin back. You more than Rosa, Nate."

Nate ignored the fact that Hugh had finally gotten his name right, and focused on speaking. "Why me?"

"Because I'm not going to start traveling with you guys, and someone has to keep Rosa fighting. For Purrloin and all the other Pokémon that Team Plasma stole."

And, after healing both parties, he headed off to Lostlorn Forest to train as Nate and Rosa headed to the Pokémon Center to make a return trade.

* * *

As the pair left Nimbasa City and headed for Driftveil, they caught sight of someone familiar just outside the gate. Rosa waved frantically, trying to get the other person's attention.

"Hi, Bianca!" Rosa cheered, bouncing up and down as the blonde turned to look. "Long time no see!"

Bianca smiled brightly. "Rosa! Hi!" She bounced over to where the pair stood, and gave Rosa a meaningful look. "Cheren's told me you've been taking advantage of having his number on your tranceiver."

"It's simple revenge for our first match," Rosa insisted, but Bianca noticed her slight blush. "That's all."

"Well, all right. I actually wanted to show you something that might be useful in your journey."

Rosa made a face. "I just wanted to ask you if it would be ok for me to stop this journey thing and let Nate film Hugh."

Bianca shook her head, still really happy about something. "Nope. You promised him, me, and Professor Juniper the day you got your Tepig. But don't worry, this might make things easier."

She led them to a narrow path between two trees, and signaled for Rosa to lead the way inside. However, Nate took the chance to lead, because he'd promised the day they'd met to handle going into strange places before Rosa did.

"What do you see?" Rosa called from behind him.

"Lots of green," he called back. Suddenly, he stopped what he was doing, and felt Rosa walk into him. Peeking over his shoulder, she saw a little clearing, empty of any intelligent life - Pokémon, human, or extraterrestrial. But, before he could declare the whole thing a waste of time, there was a rustle in the incredibly tall grass to the side.

Rosa reacted in her typical way: by jumping behind Nate, muttering something about Sewaddles and evil forest gods. For some reason, the latter made Bianca give her a strange look, but Nate couldn't think of it anymore.

The Pokémon that had caused the rustling had fallen over, into the empty space, before looking up at the humans and just _staring._

"Stay calm, Rosa," Nate deadpanned, clicking off the camera. "It can probably smell fear."

Rosa peeked over his shoulder again, preparing to let out her Pignite and order him to get rid of it...but it was just a Minccino. A cute Minccino, who was watching the three humans as if it had never seen anything like them before.

Bianca held out a treat as a peace offering. "It's ok," she cooed. "We just want to check this place out. You can handle that, right?"

The Minccino blinked, shrugged, and turned to Rosa. She couldn't understand its still-sleepy Minccino-speak, but from Mareep's sudden spring into action, she took it to mean that it wanted to battle.

She looked from the sheep to the chinchilla, then stepped up to battle. "All right, then. Let's do this."

* * *

The Pokeball clicked closed on the Minccino, shook twice, and fell silent. The little thing was hers now, and she and Nate were even in catch numbers. Rosa scanned it with her Pokedex to check it out, and was mildly surprised: it was a _boy _Minccino. Not that she cared, really, but there was still that slight bit of satisfaction in it. Returning the Pokedex to the bag, she smiled over at the others.

"I think I'll call him Julian," she said, releasing the little guy to give him a Lemonade. The creature now known as Julian paid no attention, merely sipped at his drink and watched as Bianca took a picture of the hidden area. "You done with your research, Bianca?"

One final picture, and Binaca put down the camera. "I think so. Professor Juniper might be interested in studying Julian, too..."

The Minccino spit out a mouthful of Lemonade at the blonde, and she stepped out of the way. Rosa smiled. "I don't think Julian wants to be studied. I think he just wants to run around."

"That's what I thought." Bianca smiled and adjusted her hat. "Now, Rosa, please don't irritate Cheren any more than you have to. Gym Leaders aren't robots, you know. They need sleep."

"Told you so," Nate declared, and Julian laughed. Rosa glared at both of them simultaneously, a very impressive move to be honest.

"Shut up, both of you. It was pure vengeance mixed with a desire to become his friend." She adjusted her bag and called her new Minccino forward. "Come, Julian. Let's see how far we can get before we leave them behind completely."

Julian looked back one last time and followed her out of his hideaway. This should be fun.

* * *

Training in the grass surrounding the Hidden Grotto had really helped Rosa's team. Azurill, who had previously been difficult to work with due to a being a Normal-type knowing only weak Water moves, finally became a Marill and gained the same-type bonus from her skills. Mareep and Julian both got a kick out of rolling down hills with a Solosis, and Greg managed to learn Rollout himself.

They did encounter a bit of trouble when some guy on a motorbike challenged Rosa to a rotation battle, but she responded to that request by breaking down into tears and whining about how rotation battles sucked. _That _was an awkward experience for everyone involved, and naturally, she and Nate were able to pass by the motorcycle man without looking back.

"That was actually kind of funny," Nate said as they stepped onto Driftveil Drawbridge, when he noticed Rosa's tears had stopped.

"It was embarrassing," Rosa corrected. "I don't even know what that was."

"Whatever it was, it's going in the movie. I didn't know you could cry on command like that."

"I am an actress," she said with a weak smile. "Riolu Girl, remember?"

Clearly, he'd forgotten. "I thought you said you didn't want to talk about that experience ever again."

"Brycen and Sabrina were nice," Rosa admitted. "I don't think I'll go back, but you never know. But, anyway," she suggested to Nate as they crossed the bridge, "maybe we can find some Ducklett on this bridge, taking them down with our Electric-types."

Nate looked down at Magnemite's ball. Two of his Pokémon friends had evolved in the same day. Why not go for three? "All right. But if they go and eat us alive..."

"Don't make me think of that!" Rosa wailed, and Nate chuckled.

His star was enjoying herself, after all.


	14. Plasma vs Plasma

**Another addition to the team, and yet another mission for Rosa.**

**Also, the Zorua is a girl because I wanted a female. There was no reason for that other than 'males are way more common,' but as long as I make things funny, I doubt any of you care.**

No sooner had the pair managed to get to Driftveil City than they found not one but _two _oddly-dressed people, exchanging words of utter hatred. Rosa wanted to sneak quietly past them, but Nate held her back. It's not like he had to try particularly hard this time. After all, when would they see something like this again?

So, they chose instead to eavesdrop on the conversation, Nate pulling out his notebook and pencil and casually leaning against the bridge to write it down for the film. Rosa just stared out at the water and pretended she wasn't paying attention.

"I don't see why you chose to follow _him_," the man in the knight costume spat, the heat in his voice momentarily distracting the heroes.

His companion, an obvious Team Plasma grunt, shook his head. "Things aren't the way they were before. N betrayed us. We need a king we can trust."

"_N_ betrayed _us_?" The knight seemed enraged. "And what did Ghetsis do? Dealing with him was hardly a tea party, even before his true intentions were revealed."

"Hey, we get tea parties every other Thursday," the grunt pointed out. "What does N do for you? Oh, that's right. The man flew off on a dragon and left his subjects behind! Such fine behavior for a king!"

Nate and Rosa exchanged a look. They remembered that the grunt they'd chased in Virbank City was talking about a king. Perhaps these people in knight costumes were those that were still loyal...

"There you are, you thieving jerks!"

Hugh, powered by rage, propelled himself past Nate and Rosa from out of nowhere, nearly tackling both Team Plasma grunts to the ground. However, they stepped out of the way, leaving him bewildered and skidding to a halt.

"I'm out of here," the black-clad Plasma operative huffed, rushing away. Hugh gave a battle cry and chased him down, leaving Rosa laughing nervously and her traveling companion shaking his head.

"I still don't get why you and Hugh get along so well," Nate stated, earning a playful shove from his donut-headed friend. "Seriously, though, what's going to happen now?"

"It's easy, isn't it?" Rosa sighed. "He's still going to drag us to battle against Team Plasma, and we're going to go along with it because his mom made my mom make me promise to keep him alive. It's simple science."

"You're fighting against Team Plasma?" The heroes both jumped as the knight spoke to them, but he didn't seem to notice that they'd been there for a while. "I think I know someone who can help you," he said. "He was a pretty high ranking Team Plasma member up until the incident two years ago. He might have useful information."

"Then why won't he tell you?" Nate questioned, and the knight shrugged.

"I'm not actively fighting against them. I'm just trying to make up for my own mistakes." He pushed them forward. "Come on. I think he said something about a Pokémon Center."

* * *

"Are you sure this is foolproof?"

Colress tried not to flinch at the glare the older man was giving him. Ghetsis needed him, he reminded himself, and he needed Ghetsis. The relationship was strained, true, poisoned by a mutual dislike. But Ghetsis provided the necessary materials for Colress's research in exchange for the scientist's version of loyalty, which meant that the dislike was only shown through bitter sarcasm.

And there was a lot of bitter sarcasm on both ends.

"Not foolproof, no," Colress admitted, focusing on the device instead of his boss. "It does have an annoying tendency to break after one use, and I haven't exactly figured out how to overcome that. Not to mention Zinzolin sent the _Shadow Triad_ out to, how should I put it, collect the necessary components for Part II of your master plan. And we all know the Shadow Triad aren't exactly what you would call competent. At anything."

"But you will create the device, bug-free?"

"As you wish, Master."

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by the Triad themselves, popping out of nowhere despite the fact that the door to Colress's headquarters had been locked, and all the windows bolted shut. Colress made a mental note to cover every inch of ceiling with duct tape at the next available opportunity. In the meantime, he should find out exactly what it is that Buddy, Guy and Pal(as he had taken to calling them recently, as a way of differentiating) had to say.

"We couldn't find it," said the one Colress had declared Pal, stroking his Accelgor's head like it was a simple Purrloin. "Is the device even ready?"

"I still need a few test subjects for this version," Colress admitted. "It isn't exactly easy to find those that are willing, and it's difficult to find unwilling test subjects without drawing attention. My own Pokémon obey me already, I need to test..." Colress suddenly had an idea, but he wiped it away almost immediately. He would not use Rosa's Pokémon, not when he was starting to earn her trust and could still turn her away from getting involved in the plot.

Ghetsis, though, seemed to have an idea of his own. "Colress?" he asked quietly. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

What passed through Colress's head was this: _I'm not going to make the reference. I will keep my mouth shut and bury myself in my science like a good boy. I am **not** going to make the reference._

But what came out of his mouth? "I think so, Ghetsis, but me and Aurea Juniper? While it's a lovely idea in theory, in practice I doubt she would approve of such nonsense."

The Shadow Triad squealed like fangirls at the statement.

"You and Professor Juniper?" 'Pal' sobbed. "Your babies would be beautiful!"

"I ship you so hard now!" 'Guy' cried.

"The feels!" 'Buddy' squeaked, falling over onto the ground.

Ghetsis turned back to Colress, and this time, the scientist had no Disney music to hide his laughter. "Is everything a joke to you, Colress?"

Colress shrugged, regaining his composure. "Funny things are."

"Do you know what I imagine would be funny?" Ghetsis was still speaking quietly, and that kind of scared everyone else. "Perhaps you can test your device on the Shadow Triad's Pokémon. It would be absolutely hilarious."

Colress turned to face Pal's Accelgor. "Are you willing to assist in our quest?"

Accelgor looked up at its master, then reluctantly followed Colress into the lab. Only seconds later, the Pokémon bounced out, followed by Colress. The sleeve of the man's lab coat had caught on fire.

"We still need more time," Colress stated unnecessarily, managing to put out his sleeve without harm to himself...or the slightest change to his uncaring expression. "The device exploded."

"We simply need better test subjects," Ghetsis corrected, a brand-new idea sparking in his mind. "I have a mission for you, Colress..."

* * *

Rood was a very nice old man, for a former Sage of Team Plasma, and had a very impressive beard beaten only by the one on the face of Gym Leader Drayden. He invited Nate and Rosa to the house he and the other good Plasmas were using as a hideout, and after they defeated him in a double battle(Rosa's Marill becoming Azumarill in the process) he allowed them inside.

"We don't all live here," Rood explained when he noticed Rosa's nerves. "Most of the other Sages aren't even in Driftveil, and other ex-grunts have gone on to live normal lives. We're here to make amends for past mistakes."

"You didn't know what you were doing at the time," Rosa said, trying to speak up loud enough so that he would understand that she held no grudges. "I think you can be forgiven."

Rosa couldn't be sure, but she felt that Rood was smiling behind the facial hair. "Thank you, Rosa, but there are still others who do not believe as you do. You are both right in some ways."

Nate got what the old man was saying, and his mind instantly leapt to one person in particular. "Hey, Rood?" he asked nervously, getting the man's attention. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about..."

But he never got to finish his sentence. The door had opened, hitting the wall with a loud bang, and Hugh came storming in.

"All right," he growled, glaring at Rood, who flashed Rosa a brief 'I told you so' look. "Where's my sister's Purrloin?"

"Purrloin?" Rood repeated, trying to think. "I'm not aware of any Purrloin living here...perhaps it's -"

"Then what's that?" Hugh interrupted, pointing at a door that had recently been forced open by a Purrloin nudging it with its head. The creature's large green eyes stared at him for a bit, before it gave a big Purrloin-smile and wandered off.

Rood watched it go, clearly not amused. "Very well, then. If that is your Purrloin, you're welcome to have it back, but there's a simple test I must conduct first." He nodded to his Swoobat, who had been circling the ceiling happily. "You know what to do."

Hugh let out a startled, furious noise as the Swoobat dived at the Purrloin. Purrloin itself let out a squeak and dove behind a chair, morphing into a small black fox as it did so. Rood nodded, his suspicions confirmed, and held out Swoobat's ball.

"Very nice," he commented. "Let's not scar the poor thing for life, now."

Swoobat cheered and returned to his trainer, happy to be with him. Rood gently picked up the creature that was definitely not a Purrloin, letting it hide its face in his beard. "This Zorua has been playing pranks like this since we came to live here," he explained to the trio, as the Zorua in question turned to look. "Using the Illusion ability to pretend to be other Pokémon and getting in all sorts of trouble, using the Illusion ability to pretend to be human in order to trick people..." he glared down at the snickering fox in his arms, before returning to Nate, Rosa and Hugh. "Frankly, I'm amazed she got past Anthea and Concordia."

Zorua scoffed, and said something that loosely translated to, **"They went to get me food and left the door open. Not the best babysitters."**

However, no one could understand, and it was only the arrival of two young women that helped explain. Both of them looked rather embarrassed to have failed at their mission, but Zorua cheered.

"I hope you haven't been getting into too much trouble, Zorua," the blonde scolded, to which the Zorua happily stuck out her tongue, leaping out of Rood's arms.

Hugh shook his head. "I'm out of here. Later, Rosa...Palm-tree."

And he'd gone, off to search for Purrloin no doubt.

Rood was talking with the women, who seemed to agree with something. He cleared his throat, getting the protagonists' attention. "We were wondering if either of you would take the opportunity to reunite this Zorua with her pack brother...and Lord N."

**"N is my brother, too,"** Zorua protested, though no one could understand. **"Zoroark and I adopted him as such years ago. Just because he's human doesn't mean..."**

"Hush, Zorua," the pink-haired woman said, and the Pokémon fell silent.

Rosa didn't know what to say. "I don't know a thing about N, other than that he was once the king of Team Plasma and probably has some kind of flying dragon. How am I supposed to find him?"

Rood looked toward the women. "Anthea, Concordia. This is your backstory. I was aware of very little until recently."

The blonde smiled. "All right. It doesn't have a happy ending, but that could be because it hasn't truly ended yet. This is a true tale of a one-eyed man, a pair of dragons, a desperate king, and twin heroes..."

"Not to mention humor, adventure, and just a bit of true love," the other one added, only to fall silent at her sister's stare. She smiled. "Sorry, Concordia. Continue."

But Concordia just laughed. "No, you're right, Anthea. There's quite a bit of that, too." Looking back at her audience, she cleared her throat and began, "Once upon a time, in Accumula Town, a young king called N met a pair of twins. A boy and a girl, walking the paths of Unova together, were unaware of their destiny to change not only his life, but the lives of many others..."

* * *

Julian seemed happy with his new teammate, and challenged her to a practice battle almost immediately after they'd returned to the Pokémon Center. Rosa, though, was a bit less eager to get on with it.

Concordia had told them the whole story: how she, Anthea, and N were all adopted by a wicked man called Ghetsis, how N had been raised by Ghetsis to be the one to summon the legendary Zekrom. And how, two years ago, twin heroes had freed N and the rest of Team Plasma from Ghetsis's control, showing the confused king the true power of love and friendship.

"N most likely wants to find the twins again," Anthea had added once the story had finished. "But the fact remains that I have no idea where they are. Perhaps if you can find them, you can find him."

"Or the girl, at least," Concordia had said with a smile that lit up her usually serious face. "Do you not remember how flustered he got whenever we mentioned her? Or how he tried to convince us that it was the Serperior he enjoyed talking to, but he refused to make eye contact as he said it?"

Rood had shaken his head at them, told them to spend less time on the internet, and handed Rosa the Zorua.

Rosa had taken the fox reluctantly, still afraid of its evolved form, but Nate didn't seem to care.

"It's not like you have to evolve it, Rosa," he said now. "In fact, this N guy might not even recognize her unless she's still a Zorua. And he has a Zoroark himself."

Rosa looked down at Zorua, who had partnered up with Mareep to battle against Julian and Azumarill. "I guess you're right. I just wonder if N is even in Unova anymore..."


	15. Lost in the Underground

**You may have thought Zinzolin was a competent villain. But then WE got to him.**

When Nate and Rosa woke up the next morning, they immediately headed down to trade. The faster learning experience traded Pokémon earned would certainly help them in the long run, especially for those times when they had to go chasing after Hugh. So, exchanging Electric-types, as well as Lucario for Azumarill, they headed off to Driftveil Drawbridge to raise each other's teams. Zorua had the time of her life pouncing on Ducklett, then letting them go off unhurt as she playfully stuck out her tongue at them, but seemed to not want to battle.

"Probably just what being around Team Plasma did to her," Nate shrugged, recalling Mareep for Azumarill. "Do you think you can get me a Magneton today?"

"Only if you promise to help Mareep catch up with the rest of my team," Rosa laughed, before turning back to her borrowed friend. "Lucario, Quick Attack!"

By the time noon rolled around, and Mareep and Magnemite had evolved to their second forms, the two teenagers and all of their Pokémon friends were getting hungry. So they headed back to town for lunch, traded back, and headed off to the Driftveil City Gym.

* * *

Rosa clung to Nate's arm as he led her through the dark tunnels. She'd heard that this place used to be a maze of elevators two years ago. Now, it was still a maze, but a maze of dark roller coaster tunnels. Dark roller coaster tunnels filled with warm-up trainers.

Luckily, Azumarill was able to take said warm-up trainers down pretty quickly, even eventually learning the move Aqua Tail.

Unluckily, the underground maze was just about the worst thing either of our heroes had ever encountered. For one thing, 'dark' was an understatement. It was blacker than midnight down there, only tiny, eerie lamps flickering to life when Greg and Toby lit them. For another, it was the maze itself. Each little roller cart only went two ways, and only one of them led to Clay.

Rosa initially handled this in her typical manner: Swallowing her fear, shrugging in a way she hoped looked uninterested, saying, "Oh, well, we tried," and attempting to back out. But then Nate had staged an intervention in his own typical way(that is, dragging her onto the nearest cart and speeding down to wherever it went, paying no attention to the name-calling and the death threats) and now here they were. Navigating a maze in the dark.

Rosa growled as Greg turned on another lamp, realizing that she was no closer to Clay than she was when she started. Instead, they were closer to a wall made out of dirt, held up by pillars.

"Don't do it, Rosa," Nate warned, but she paid him no attention as her hands curled into fists.

The next thing he knew, she'd punched a rather large hole in the dirt wall, and the wall started to collapse.

* * *

"Colress, it's about time we showed you something."

If it were anyone less important, Colress would have ignored it. But, instead, he reluctantly pulled himself away from his precious science, knowing that great trouble would await him if he didn't follow Zinzolin. But just because he decided to go didn't mean he couldn't make a few threats as the old man led him down a hallway.

"If this is another video about the swimming patterns of a Piplup, I swear..."

Zinzolin shook his head. "Nonsense. Ghetsis took away my penguin videos weeks ago. No, this is a certain meeting that I figured you were trustworthy enough to take part in." And he opened a door that Colress had never bothered to check behind.

The small gathering, at first glance, didn't appear to be unusual in any way, shape, or form. Colress was understandably irritated to have been pulled away from his research for this, and he snapped at Zinzolin to not waste his time. And then he did a double take, his mouth hanging open like a half-dead Magikarp.

The gathering was not an everyday occurrence after all. In the center of the room was a long table, draped with a black tablecloth patterned with Team Plasma logos. At the head of the table sat Ghetsis, calmly sipping tea from a blood-red teacup, a fancy black teapot sitting nearby. Several grunts were taking part in this little tea party as well, and Zinzolin took a seat. Colress stared for another second, and then he found his voice.

"What."

There was no emotion, no inflection...the word wasn't even a question. A female grunt, her mask lowered to allow her to drink her own tea, turned her gaze to the scientist and flashed a taunting smile. "What, no sarcasm today, Colress?"

Colress was silent for a moment longer (clearly, his voice had escaped him again) before finally speaking up again. "I think this situation makes fun of itself," he finally said, still trying to force the picture in front of him to make sense.

Ghetsis waved at the table. "Have a seat, Colress. We were discussing our new master plan, factoring in those children."

"Well, that sounds fascinating. Unfortunately, I have to be..." he cast his mind around, trying to think of something. Nothing came to him, however, so he finished with, "anywhere else."

"There's cake."

And, brushing off how weird this whole thing was, Colress joined the tea party. Really, he decided, what could it hurt? Science would always be there when he got back, while cake...well, you had to take that chance whenever you could.

You never knew when the Shadow Triad would show up.

* * *

"We're sorry, Clay."

"It was an accident."

"We just got fed up with getting lost..."

"Rosa did it, actually..."

The Gym Leader shook his head. His Gym had been mostly unharmed, thanks to the extra precautions he'd taken, but he didn't want these two running around and causing trouble. "You coulda just asked fer a map," he scolded, and the pair hung their heads in shame. "But I guess that since the Gym's _technically _still in one piece, you kids can get yer match if ya make it quick, and if ya promise to not come back to Driftveil."

"Good enough," Rosa agreed.

Clay continued as if she didn't exist. "I need to get goin' for somethin' important. A one-on-one battle good enough for ya?"

"Sounds just about perfect, actually." Rosa didn't exactly have any Pokémon besides Azumarill that could help her with this particular fight. Greg, Flaaffy, Julian, Zorua...all useful and/or cute, but nothing that would help her excape this Ground-based dungeon. So, a one-on-one match it would have to be.

Nate flicked on his camera, grinning widely. "All right. Let's do this."

Rosa took a deep breath and reached for Azumarill's ball. "Ok. You pick first, Clay."

The Gym Leader adjusted his hat, studying his opponent carefully, before he reached for a Pokémon of his own. "I choose Excadrill!"

"Azumarill, time for battle!" Rosa called, and Azumarill bounced in excitement. Evolving to her final form immediately after leaving the Azurill stage didn't give her much character development, but this was her first important battle. If it was really Azumarill, and not Zorua doing that Illusion nonsense again.

"And if you're Zorua," Rosa added, "go play with Nate. I don't have time for you."

There was an offended sound from behind her. It seemed Zorua had been there the whole time, and the Azumarill on the field was indeed an Azumarill.

Clay started the match. "Excadrill, use Metal Claw!"

But it was no match for an Azumarill with the Huge Power ability and an extra-powerful Aqua Tail, and ten minutes later, Clay had handed Rosa her Quake Badge.

"You said you had something important planned?" Nate asked, shutting the camera down as Clay gave Excadrill a Max Revive.

"Why don't I just take ya there so you can see?" Clay recalled Excadrill and headed off. "You might as well have some kind of fun before I kick you out of my city.'

The teenagers shared a look, then followed, curious as to what could take a Gym Leader's attention away from his Gym.

Of course, as Rosa's grandmother had once said, "Curiosity crushed the Klink."


	16. The Tournament of Terror

**In which the protagonists refuse to listen to their elders.**

Clay led them to an area of Driftveil that Rosa's cousins had sworn had been Cold Storage two years ago. They must have gotten rid of the place to make room for this...whatever it was.

"The Pokémon World Tournament," Clay stated, explaining the purpose of everything to the confused protagonists. "A place fer Trainers from all over the world to show up and compete. 'Course, it's only known 'round Unova at the moment."

"Wasn't the Cold Storage here not too long ago?" Nate asked, confirming Rosa's suspicions.

Clay looked really proud of himself. "Yup."

Nate wasn't so proud. "You took down a place to store goods for your market, just so you could set up a huge tournament that, while it _is _pretty impressive, is only known around Unova?"

Clay's stare made him shut up pretty quickly. "Don't question my bad decisions, boy," he warned.

Nate immediately apologized.

Rosa, though, was still unsure. What if they wanted her to compete? While battling did take away most of her worries, how would she handle being forced to participate in a tournament she hadn't prepared for?

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she caught sight of two familiar young men. Her fear immediately melted away, quickly replaced by surprise.

"Hugh? Cheren?"

Hugh, previously sulking about being unable to find Purrloin, brightened considerably at the sight of his old friend, and Nate to an extent. "Hey, Rosa! You guys come to enter the tournament, too?"

"We came to see what Clay was going on about," Rosa corrected, trying to keep him from getting his hopes up. "I just beat Clay, I want to take a break from battling."

"I'll enter, then," Nate said with a shrug. "Toby, Lucario, Magneton, Dwebble...think that's enough?"

Cheren handed him an information pamphlet as Clay headed over to check the registry. "I've been reading up on this. Only eight participants are allowed, with three Pokémon each. Simple elimination."

Nate released his Pokémon, taking a seat on the ground in front of them as he tried figuring out which one would get left out. Dwebble bounced in excitement, forgetting about the rock on its back, and tipped over. Multiple anime sweat drops appeared as the four humans and the other Pokémon watched it try to straighten itself up.

"And you're sure that thing doesn't freak you out, Rosa?" Hugh teased, poking her in the hair bun.

"It does, a little," Rosa admitted. "But it's not so bad, and I don't really think the thing can function without Nate, so I let him keep it with us."

"Like I'd release him," Nate scoffed, as Lucario got fed up with the squirming bug's cries and flipped it back upright.

Cheren said something, so quietly Rosa couldn't hear most of it. Something about a guy named Tommy. But when she asked, he refused to elaborate.

"I just got distracted by some old memories," he explained. "You shouldn't worry." He paused, letting the flashback finish, before returning to reality and waving them on. "Sorry. Nate should really register if he's going to be in the tournament."

And the comment was forgotten.

* * *

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone when Nate and Hugh were the first match to be shown in the center arena, but no one objected to how obvious it was. Nate had wanted to battle Hugh for quite some time, and for his part, Hugh was very interested to see what his other assistant in his personal mission was capable of. Rosa was collecting badges, so that was enough proof for her journey, but Nate had yet to prove himself.

The two took their positions on the battle platform. Fluffing up his gigantic hair even more, Nate watched as his Qwilfish-headed semi-friend sent out his Dewott to battle. Nate had expected this.

"Magneton, action!" he called, summoning the strange-looking creature onto the field. The referee blew his whistle, and the match began.

The match was over in minutes. Dewott easily fell to Magneton, Toby took out Simisage, and Magneton was called back out to take care of Tranquill. Nate had won, and Hugh had been eliminated from the tournament in the first round. He didn't seem to mind that, but he did have a warning for the other boy.

"You'd better win this thing, Palm-tree," he said as he shook hands with Nate, proving there were no hard feelings about his loss. "I don't want to lose to anyone but the top trainer in the tournament."

Nate grinned. He and Hugh were actually starting to get along, now that Nate had pledged to assist in retrieving the Purrloin. "Don't worry about that," he promised as the referee healed his chosen warriors.

"Good boy." And Hugh jumped off the side of the arena, deciding to observe with Rosa and the Pokémon she had out of their balls. Julian scampered from her shoulder to Hugh's, and to Rosa's surprise, Hugh reached back and petted him by the ear instead of pulling him off. Hugh started to make a comment, then he spotted the creature sitting in Rosa's lap.

The playful little Zorua stuck out her tongue.

"Is that the Zorua that was with that Team Plasma weirdo?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing at his friend.

"Rood isn't a weirdo! He's _trying _to make amends for the Team Plasma thing. And Zorua's only part in it was being friends with the king." She glared at the fox. "Now, say you're sorry for mocking him."

Zorua hung her head in shame, and Hugh reluctantly reached down to pet her. But he immediately drew his hand away once Nate's second match started. He was up against Cheren.

"Does this mean I'll get a badge if I beat you?" Nate called across the field, and Cheren smirked.

"We'll see," he stated, adjusting his tie. "I'll open with Stoutland!"

Nate sighed. He had to open with the same Pokémon as last time, as the tournament rules stated. Oh, well. Steel-types resisted Normal-types. "Magneton, action!"

And the battle began.

* * *

Cheren caught his Cinccino as it was knocked off the ground by Toby's attack, but it was too late. Even though his Watchog had confused Magneton to the point of the thing knocking itself out, Toby was too tough for any Normal-type to bear.

"Very nice," Cheren said, as he congratulated Nate on the victory. His dark blue eyes wandered to the sidelines, where Hugh and Rosa sat with the Pokémon in the front row. "I expect you can keep Rosa in line."

Nate rolled his eyes. "You don't know how difficult that job can be," he stated.

"Friends can be troublesome," Cheren agreed, before walking off the stage to allow Nate to see his next opponent.

Rosa blushed a little and looked down as the Gym Leader took a seat on her other side, more out of embarrassment than lingering infatuation, but Hugh didn't notice. He was too busy staring at the man who had just entered the battlefield.

"Rosa, _what's wrong with that guy's hair?"_ he demanded, and Rosa took her eyes off the sleeping Zorua to notice Colress the Sewer King of Science was her companion's next opponent.

**"Maybe it's not hair at all,"** Zorua offered, opening one sleepy eye to look up at Colress. **"Maybe it's some kind of weird new Pokémon that he's keeping as a pet."**

**"Sixth generation, I'm sure," **Julian commented, and both Pokémon started laughing.

"Rosa, your Minccino's gone nuts," Hugh whined, and Julian 'accidentally' hit him with his tail.

"Be nice to him." Rosa held out her arms to take her pet back, but Julian shook his head and moved on to Hugh's head. He wanted to watch this, dang it, and see what the 'sewer king' thing was all about.

Both participants opened with a Magneton, though the standoff was broken as Nate switched his out for Toby. The Pignite easily took down Magneton with Flame Charge, but fell to the Psychic-type Elgyem. Magneton managed to knock it down, but the real challenge came with Colress's third and final Pokemon.

The Klink itself wasn't terrifying. In fact, Rosa had a suspicion it was the same one she'd battled on Route 12. But Toby couldn't fight for Nate anymore, and Magneton wasn't in the best shape after its battle with Elgyem.

"What's he going to do?"

Hugh's impatience was completely expected. Rosa held up a hand to stop him from talking, while Julian tightened his grip on Hugh's hair. They didn't know which Pokémon Nate had picked as his third, and both had doubts about Dwebble's capability.

Fortunately, Nate seemed to have had those same doubts. "All right, Magneton. You've done your part. Lucario, action!"

Colress's smile was ridiculously creepy. "I see you have great potential as well," he stated. "Your other Pokémon were truly powerful. Perhaps your Lucario could show me its strength?"

"You are not bribing me with candy," Nate warned. "I am not a Rosa."

Rosa looked offended. "Hey! That lollipop was for science!"

Lucario snorted, bracing himself to fight.

"Lucario, Force Palm!"

* * *

"That was fun, even just watching," Hugh commented, as a single point was added to Nate's battle card, in case he decided to use it for buying rare training items later on. Nate had thrown a tantrum over going through all that for one point, but he was recovering at the moment. "Good to know you can handle things."

"Is that your offer of friendship, Qwilfish?" Nate taunted. The older boy grimaced at the nickname. "Well, it's not a black eye and a bunch of lollipops, but it'll do."

"Don't you have to babysit Rosa?" Hugh scoffed, and Nate laughed out loud.

"She's fifteen. She's able to take care of herself."

"You don't know Rosa at all, do you, Palm-tree?"

Rosa wasn't paying attention to the boys. She hadn't been since she'd called Julian and Zorua back to their balls, and noticed a strange shape off in the distance. It sent a shiver down her spine, and she wanted to leave quickly, before they were forced to investigate.

"Nate, come on," she called, getting his attention. "The more towns we visit, the stronger we'll get. Come _on."_

No such luck. No sooner had the pair stepped out of the building than a Team Plasma grunt took off, onto a ship. Rosa realized that this must have been what she'd seen earlier, and her heart sank through her shoes. There was no escaping now, especially not when -

"TEAM PLASMAAAA!"

Hugh charged onto the ship, not letting anyone stop him. Rosa felt a headache coming on.

She was so absorbed in trying to prevent said headache that she didn't notice the presence behind her, until a man's voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"What's that kid's problem?"

The voice made Rosa jump, but Nate had been expecting it. "Hey, Colress," he said with a shrug, as if the battle he'd just had with the guy made it slightly less creepy that they kept bumping into him. "We're just watching our friend go after Team Plasma for some reason I only know a little about."

Rosa hid her face in her hand. "And now we're going to have to go help him," she sighed, secretly wishing Colress would take charge of this mission an get Hugh back himself.

"Help him take down Team Plasma?" Colress didn't seem to agree with that. "I wish you wouldn't. You won't like what you'd find, if you go down that path."

"And how do you know this?" Nate challenged, and Colress looked a little nervous. He pushed his glasses closer to his eyes before he spoke.

"Let's just say I am scientifically curious about what sort of plans they have for the world, and how they can be stopped. You can't deny that things go horribly wrong when you get involved with Team Plasma." He turned to Rosa, who immediately felt a shiver roll up her spine. She tried to remind herself that Colress had given her candy, and he pretended he didn't notice that she was afraid of him. "I told you before, I'm using you for science. Team Plasma would use you for other purposes."

"I never gave permission to let you use me as a lab rat," Rosa said, "but I'm glad you took my side in all this. Let Hugh fend for himself, I say. He's a big boy, he can take it."

"And what about your promise to your mother?" Nate challenged, but Cheren's arrival cut them off.

Cheren paused, studying the scene. "Having a three-way battle?" he asked skeptically, and Colress shook his head.

"You're a Gym Leader, am I right? Perhaps you can convince these two to stop messing around with Team Plamsa."

Cheren had other ideas. "Team Plasma's here?" he asked, and at Nate's confirmation, adjusted his tie once again. "Talk about a complete bother. Oh, well, let's make it quick."

And he took off onto the ship, Nate following. Rosa took one last look at Colress, at the one logical person in this mess, but then she decided she was more afraid of his hair whooshie than she was of Team Plasma, and she took off after them.

Colress rolled his eyes. _"Teenagers,"_ he spat, like it was the dirtiest word he knew, and he walked off in the opposite direction of the ship.


End file.
